Out of the Bag
by SomethingAncient
Summary: So, now that both wars are done, what's next? Well, it turns out that humans can be rather resourceful. And now that spirits can be seen, Kisuke's devised a plan. Gear up for the dawn of a new age, with hollow hunting becoming a career among gifted humans, and a rogue organization causing trouble. How will Seireitei handle it? How will things work out?
1. Chapter 1: Back to Normal

Hello and welcome my story. I hope you enjoy it; and if you feel like it, a review would be awesome. My Author's Notes are at the end.

Edits: A lot. I'd almost call this a rewrite, but the story is generally the same, so it's technically a rework. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the story, it should make more sense and be a lot easier to read now.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach or make money from this fan made fiction.

Speaking out loud – "Hello, how are you?"

 _Thinking – "I wonder how you are doing."_

 **Out of The Bag:**

It was finally over; the quincy were defeated with the fall of Juha Bach: known as the Yhwach. The fight was intense but after seven straight days of fighting, Ichigo Kurosaki ended it with an attack he had never unleashed before... to quite the devastating effect. Despite the original location of the fight—in the Soul King's dimension—Juha (who was slowly dissipating) now lay face-down on one side of a massive gash that cut through the middle of the white stone buildings and orange roofs of Seireitei. On the other side of the newly formed ravine was Ichigo Kurosaki, who was unconscious and on his back.

Despite the tensions being just past their peak, nearby soul reapers had already begun to flock to either side of the ravine, including a man who wore a large straw hat and a pink haori with a flowery pattern; he was walking along side his assistant, Nanao Ise.

"That was quite the fight, eh Nanao?" The man's name was Shunsui Kyōraku, now captain commander of the Thirteen Court Guard Companies. "Kid sure knows how to make an... impression."

"Captain." Nanao replied, scolding the man for the pun. She then looked over to the young man with bright orange hair, "Shall I call for the fourth division?"

Shunsui contemplated for a moment before giving his Vice-Captain the go-ahead. "Also, please gather Kurosaki's friends and bring them to the captains' meeting hall, we have some difficult things to talk about."

"Yes Captain." Came the curt reply.

* * *

A few miles away stood an infuriated... man-like creature named Mayuri Kurotsuchi. "My labs!" he exclaimed. Captain of the Twelfth Division and second head of the Research and development department, he had white and black skin in various patterns and a hat that looked like part of his head... or maybe it was? Nothing about the "man" was normal, not even his screechy voice. "Those fools ruined my labs!" Facing the gash that had cut through some of the Twelfth Division's upper and lower laboratories, his voice was more strained than usual. "Do those buffoons have any Idea of the importance of this research? Nemu!" He called out. "Where are you?"

"Right here sir." she replied in monotone. Nemu Kurotsuchi was the vice-captain of the Twelfth Division as well as vice head of the Research and Development department, but her emotions were almost non-existent; if she had any feelings about the destroyed research facilities, they weren't apparent.

Mayuri stormed off. "Get this cleaned up, I'm headed to the first division!"

"Right away sir." she responded.

* * *

Mayuri walked into the meeting hall, going past the group that came from the living world—his course altered by a message courtesy of a hell butterfly—and walked to his place across from Rukia Kuchiki. Rukia was the vice-captain of the thirteenth division: a short woman with black, chin-length hair and purple eyes; next to her stood the towering Kenpachi Zaraki, "battle-crazed" captain of the eleventh division, though he had been very different since his vice-captain had disappeared in the war against the quincy.

The spot directly to Mayuri's left was empty, as the entire tenth division had been either wiped out or 'zombified', so the next person to his left was actually the third seat of the eighth division: Tatsufusa Enjōji. Across form the eighth division's representative was Vice-Captain Shūhei Hisagi; the other Vice-Captain not available for some reason; to his right was Tetsuzaemon Iba.

Across from Tetsuzaemon stood the ever stoic Byakuya Kuchiki, who was somehow intimidating the taller Vice-Captain of the fourth division: Isane Kotetsu. Tetsuzaemon could tell because her fidgeting and fleeting glances toward the Captain of the sixth division, though slight, were rather noticeable; especially to the Kuchiki noble.

"Calm down Miss Kotetsu, the meetin'll start soon enough." The voice came from the person directly in front of her in the row across and belonged to Shinji Hirako, the once former and now current captain of the fifth division. He had long blonde hair with straight bangs and spoke with an accent.

"Y-yes" she timidly replied.

The diminutive captain to her left, Suì-Fēng, captain of the second division (and the Onmitsukidō), just rolled her eyes patiently as the last person to enter rushed into the hall and stood next to Shinji.

"S-sorry for being late, I-I'm not normally here." the late newcomer said. The girl was of average height with long black hair, brown eyes and looked to be in her early twenties in human years. "My name is Rosuto On'nanoko, I am the fourth seat of the third division and am currently in charge." She bowed her apology before the Captain-Commander spoke up.

The Captain Commander, who was sitting as he watched everyone walk into the meeting, got up and quickly did a count to make sure everyone was present. Of special note were Ichigo Kurosaki's "entourage", all people who had come from the world of the living despite only two of them being "alive".

Kisuke Urahara: former captain of the Twelfth Division and founder of the research department that had taken over most of his former division. His most defining features were the wooden clogs and green and white striped fisherman's hat.

Yoruichi Shihōin, former Captain of the Second Division as well as head of the Onmitsukidō (a hidden police organization). The woman had a naturally dark tan skin, long purple hair, yellow eyes, and a figure to that showed how she was slender, flexible, and yet filled out.

Orihime Inoue: a kind young woman and brilliant healer. She had long, auburn hair, grey eyes, and a notably large bust.

Yasutora "Chad" Sado: classified as a "fullbringer", he was Ichigo's best friend. The young man was very tall, heavily built, and had dark, tanned skin due to his half Mexican heritage.

"Good morning everyone," the Captain Commander started, "we have a few things to talk about but I want to keep things simple so we're not kept too long. As everyone by now knows, Ichigo Kurosaki is currently resting in the fourth division—with surprisingly light injuries—after defeating the leader of the quincy: Juha Bach." He paused a moment to let the words sink in before his tone took a more serious turn. "Now lies the only problem I can foresee: Central Forty-six wants to keep him in soul society."

There was an audible gasp from Orihime, Rukia, and Yoruichi, while Byakuya's eyes widened.

"Are they mad!?" Rukia shouted. "He has a family, and he's extremely protective of them. Not to mention he still has his body back in the world of the living."

"I agree with Vice-Captain Kuchiki," Byakuya stated. "I have come to know him to a degree and agree with Vice-Captain Kuchiki: He will most likely insist upon returning to his family."

"They can't do that, can they?" Orihime questioned.

"Yes and no," Shunsui said, "While they can't force him to join the Thirteen Court Guard Companies, they fear his effect upon the living world if he should return. He may distort reality within the world of the living as things stand."

"So we are at an impasse." Suì-Fēng said. "We would be troubled to stop him if he refuses to stay."

"And that is what worries me. If he refuses Central then they will likely try something underhanded. The consequences of those actions would be something best avoided." Shunsui knew he needed to avoid making an enemy of Soul Society's saviour.

"He would tear apart Central and all those in his way should they try certain tactics the previous council had been known to use," Byakuya added.

There was a silence before Kisuke walked forward spoke up, overshadowed by his had in an ominous fashion. "I assume you have a plan Captain-Commander?" Most of the others could see that Kisuke had more than an inkling of understanding but were more than willing to ignore the conspiratorial look in his eyes.

"I do." Shunsui said, looking right back at those eyes. "I would give him an offer to have him join us temporarily as the captain of the Eighth Division."

"Captain-Commander," spoke a curt, female voice to the captain's left; it belonged to to Suì-Fēng. "He is a human of 17 years, how could he properly lead a division?"

"I think Ichigo would be a great captain, Suì-Fēng," Yoruichi spoke, stepping beside Kisuke. "He's strong enough, skilled enough, and has the instincts necessary to lead. It also helps that he's got that... certain charm that others tend to follow." Her finger was tapping her chin as she filled out the last few words.

"Lady Yoruichi, while I do not doubt your belief, you have not known him very long. He defies orders to do what he thinks is right; he might divide the Thirteen Court Guard Companies."

"And he has saved soul society twice now. The only thing he's missing is kidō and some... experience." Her face now sported that infamous Cheshire-like grin; reminiscing had brought up the memory of her teasing the young man in the healing hot spring.

Suì-Fēng wasn't sure what Yoruichi's smile was about but she knew she didn't like it. "L-Lady Yoruichi-" indignation was clear in her voice until she was interrupted.

"Alright, alright." Shunsui said, his manner quite jovial. "Let's get back to the topic at hand." He paused to give everyone the time to settle down, the week had been hectic enough. "Offering him the position should keep him from feeling too trapped. And I have spoken with Sado Yasutora during his invasion of soul society and gained great insight into the loyalty Kurosaki inspires. It seems to me that any of the captain-less divisions would do well with his natural leadership." Yasutora nodded while grunting in agreement. "I also aim to restore a sense of normalcy within Seireitei. With this also in mind, we may stay on friendly terms with him while also giving leadership to one of our divisions while we look for a permanent captain."

"Excuse me, Captain Commander, about the open captain positions: I don't think we have enough talent, according to my current data." Everyone was a little surprised when Mayuri spoke, seemingly interrupting the Captain Commander's next words.

"Oh?" asked Shunsui, "Please continue."

"I was in the process of reversing the 'zombification' of Captain Hitsugaya, Vice-Captain Matsumoto, Captain Muguruma, and Captain Ōtoribashi. The process takes a while, but I am confident in the rehabilitation process." His face was rather smug and condescending until it became one of irritation and anger. "Well that _was_ until a large portion of my labs were _destroyed_." he growled out. The next emotion upon his face confused all present, if only for a moment: disappointment and apathy at the same time. "I report the deaths of Captain Muguruma and Captain Ōtoribashi."

"Explain." stated Shinji; his concern and anger could not be missed: the loss of two "brothers" was not something to be taken lightly, and the tone conveyed by the Twelfth Division's captain was not the most respectful.

"That massive wave of energy eviscerated the majority of my hollow research facility, which just _happens_ to be where I placed Captains Muguruma and Ōtoribashi for their treatment. Needless to say, a large cavern now exists in their place."

The persons in the room who knew Ichigo were as quiet as death which prompted silence from the others; for the next ten minutes nothing was said. Mayuri seemed oddly content as an unnamed lesson of some sort seemed to sink in from his perspective.

"I see..." spoke Kisuke; the silence finally broken with the most sombre of tones. "This is not something Kurosaki will take well."

"Son of a bitch!" Yoruichi spat. "He's already done so much, and now he has to learn about this!?"

"W-we don't have to tell him, do we?" Almost everyone at the meeting looked at Orihime and thought the idea seemed like a valid option. "If we don't let him know then he won't have to worry about it."

The room began to stir with an invisible wind of conspiracy when Rukia spoke up to crush it. "We can't keep this from him, he needs to know." The softness and seriousness of her voice deflating the sails of those who would consider it, save Orihime who once again tried to get the others on-board.

"You can't do that, you'll crush his heart. He can't take that kind of punishment, not like this!" Her voice was in rags as she began to cry; her sobs beginning to choke her words. "You can't... You just can't!"

"And how is that fair to him!?" Rukia shouted, startling the others. "He saves the universe and his closest friends pay him back by keeping secrets? If no one else will tell him then I will! He's stronger than that."

"I'll tell 'im," Shinji said, his eyes staring down an invisible enemy. "He's killed one of us, one of his own; he'll forgive himself faster if we let 'im know."

There was a short silence before Shunsui once again spoke. "It seems we have a solution. Now, let's talk about the other open positions that remain. Kisuke Urahara, Yoruichi Shihōin, would you like to take up the mantle as captain for the fourth, seventh, ninth, or thirteenth divisions?"

Kisuke was the first to respond. "While I am grateful for the offer, I believe my services would be best served in the world of the living with the freedom I have had. Human's are incredible and some serious science has started looking into the afterlife; while they do not have the technology to interfere with the spiritual realms, I believe it best if I still keep a finger on its pulse."

"I see," replied Shunsui, "And your decision Miss Shihōin?"

"Na, it wouldn't feel right without the Second Division, and Suì-Fēng is more than capable there. I'll just continue to do what I did beforehand; maybe play tag with Suì-Fēng and Ichigo once in a while."

There was a slight chuckle among the others present, most notably Byakuya Kuchiki, who perfectly understood the event. "I understand." Shunsui said, a touch of humour gracing his face and coming through his voice. "So that leaves us looking for new blood. Who is capable of bankai that isn't a captain?"

"I am." Rukia said in response. For any of those present who didn't know, if they were surprised, they didn't show it.

"I nominate Renji Abarai," Byakuya said. "He has achieved bankai and should be sufficient for the role."

Once enough time had passed and no other name was called, Shunsui spoke his next words. "Then there will be no issue with an official demonstration?"

The reply was a quick "No sir!" from the current vice-captain; Byakuya responded with "I shall let him know."

"Then we will meet here tomorrow at one in the afternoon, along with anyone who is willing to oversee the process."

"Yes Captain-Commander!" was the response from all the captain-class soul reapers present.

Quickly changing gears, Shunsui was back to his jovial manner with one final question. "Now that everything else has been dealt with, do any of you have concerns?"

Shinji looked back and fourth, and when no one else – after Mayuri complained more about his laboratories – spoke up he quickly asked his own question. "Cap'n-Commander, may I speak with ya 'n Kisuke after the meetin'? I'm more 'n a little concerned with somethin'."

"Of course." Shunsui said, "And with that I say this meeting is finished. Thank you all for coming." He waved everyone off with a smile and let his shoulders relax.

After everyone else left, save Shunsui, Shinji, and himself, Kisuke spoke up. "So Mr. Hirako, what's up?" his tone also jovial.

"It's my vice-cap'n, Momo Hinamori. The other day she was trainin' one a' tha fith seats with shikai when..."

* * *

Early the next morning Momo Hinamori found herself sitting in one of the fourth division's examination rooms for a 'routine checkup', or at least that is what her captain said. And while the behaviour was strange was odd, so was her new captain.

 _"I suppose he's just making sure I'm fit for duty."_

She wasn't sure what to make of this new captain. He was superficially dishonest on his feelings and his attitude kept her on her toes.

 _"That can only be a good thing."_

It was the last thing she needed: a captain who doted on her. She was over Aizen, she had learned from that. But if her new captain was similar she would have transferred, resigned...

 _"I'd desert if I had to."_

And that was it: she was thankful for the strange superior officer. But this was getting off-topic. She was here to make sure she was physically in top shape.

 _"I have been rather tired lately."_

Though that was probably nothing serious. She probably just needed more sleep: she had been training harder lately to get up to par with her new co-vice-captain, Hiyori Sarugaki.

" _I should get more rest, it won't do if I collapse one day."_

"Good morning, you must be Vice-captain Momo Hinamori." The foreign voice, obviously not her thoughts, startled her a little. In walked a man who's most defining features were his green and white striped hat and the clack of his wooden clogs. "Kisuke Urahara, if I remember correctly," she thought. He sounded happy, maybe too happy.

"Good morning Mister Urahara, what are you doing here?" The man was obviously not from the fourth division.

"Oh," he said, pulling out a fan and opening it in front of his face. "Captain Hirako wanted me to run a little test I talked to him about previously. It can detect spirit energy exhaustion before it happens. He said he sensed something and wanted me to check it out, make sure you weren't hurting yourself." The strange man in strange garb then put the fan away and pulled out a breathing mask from somewhere in his coat and handed it to the slightly confused vice-captain. "Go ahead, put it on."

After an uneasy moment Momo placed the mask and adjusted the straps. "The air tastes different."

"Well you are breathing through a special filter so things ought to be a little different." Out of nowhere he pulled out a box with four wires attached to it and sat it on the unused portion of the bed. "I need to get to your right wrist, left shoulder, stomach, and also back." By now his voice was serious to prevent any misconceptions. "I need you to take the top of your uniform off; your undergarments can stay on."

Soon enough Momo was hooked up with wires and the 'box' was beeping with various numbers on the display. The cloth that served as a bra left her plenty modest so she wasn't embarrassed, especially since the man was too busy with the test to even notice her.

"Alright," Kisuke said, "the test is finished and I'd like you to stay here while the numbers are processed. Feel free to get dressed while I'm away."

Unhooking the wires took no time at all and once Kisuke had taken the mask back he was gone, all that was left was to wait for his return.

 _"Hopefully everything is fine."_ she thought. This didn't seem to be a test for anything too serious.

* * *

It was now five past one and Rukia and Renji had met at the captains' meeting hall and left with their soon-to-be judges toward the first division special training grounds. The large, open field was remarkable for the scars of earth which refused to grow grass—or anything else—and one could almost trace the movements of those who were responsible for it. Off to the side stood Shunsui Kyōraku, Suì-Fēng, and Byakuya Kuchiki as witnesses to the potentially new captains' proficiency test.

Just before anyone could wonder who would start, Shunsui spoke to the two candidates."Vice-captain Kuchiki, please come over here. Vice-captain Abarai, please show us your proficiency from where you feel it is safe."

Rukia quickly joined the other captains and watched as Renji took a stance before calling, "Bankai: Sōō Zabimaru!" A wave of energy erupted causing dust to blind the field for a short while, eventually revealing Renji with his zanpakutō's bankai. On his right arm, covering his hand, was the top half of a snake skull with glowing eyes and a blade extending from between the fangs. A red tuft of fur covered the joint to a spine which extended up his arm and hung loosely around his waist. From the back of his left shoulder, a thick fur hung down. Renji immediately began attacking an invisible enemy, transitioning between attacks with his blade and cowl: revealing a bone hand which resembled the shape of a baboon's arm. Cycling through the different talents he was fluent in didn't take long and he promptly ended the demonstration, standing straight in front of the captains and Rukia, awaiting his assessment. A few more scars added to the field.

Shunsui was the first to speak. "I suppose a sparing partner would have been better to show off your abilities, but I definitely feel the power, and your swordsmanship looks good. What do you think Captain Suì-Fēng?"

The short captain gave Renji a look that made him feel shorter than she was. "His flash-step needs more work and no demonstration of kido was given. But his power is appropriate and his swordsmanship is... adequate. He has much to learn but will do for now assuming he continues to train himself."

"And what do you have to say Captain Kuchiki?"

The noble captain thus spoke. "I believe Vice-Captain Abarai has shown he is capable of leading a division; his power is sufficient for that of a captain, more than I recall when he last faced myself."

"Well," Shunsui said, "I believe that settles it. Congratulations on your promotion, Captain of the Third Division, Renji Abarai."

Renji sealed his zanpakutō and bowed to the other captains. "Thank you Captain-Commander Kyōraku, Captain Suì-Fēng, Captain Kuchiki." He then turned to Rukia, "See, it's easy. I'm going to pack up my stuff while you show off. We'll save the celebrations for when Ichigo wakes up." With nothing else to say he disappeared with flash-step.

Nodding, Rukia entered the very centre of the field and looked around, letting out a breath before waving her hand and calling out to the other captains. "I do not wish to be rude, but do we have a larger field?"

Shunsui raised his eyebrow with bit of a twinkle in his eye while Suì-Fēng looked on with a straight face; it was Byakuya who spoke up, sounding a little disappointed. "Can you not control your bankai properly?"

"Not completely, it's release is dangerous to anyone too close."

"I see." Suì-Fēng responded.

Fearing the contemplative look upon the face of the captain of the Second Division, Rukia quickly spoke up to clarify her concern. "It is not that I cannot control it's release: it is an area of effect centred around myself. My trouble controlling it has to do with a different aspect of my zanpakutō."

Suì-Fēng waited silently for the Captain Commander to make any decisions.

"I guess we can do that, follow me."

Using flash-step the group quickly entered a new field with small, blackened stone tiles upon the ground. Looking around, Rukia noticed that the new field was the same size as the previous one, though the blackened pillars that surrounded it looked rather intimidating as they climbed to form arches that met with the other side.

"This field was designed for the personal use of the previous Captain Commander." said the current Captain Commander.

"I see. Is there a place where you won't get caught up in my bankai?"

"We will stand just outside of the pillars, it should be fine. Is that everything Vice-Captain Kuchiki?"

"That is all, thank you." She bowed.

The observing captains quickly moved to the space between two pillars on the outside of the field and awaited the reveal of Rukia's bankai.

Once Rukia situated herself in the centre, she brought her zanpakutō out to her right side; her left hand elegantly supporting it from below. "Bankai: Hakka no Togame." Immediately the entire atmosphere of the field exploded a bright white, which soon fell to the ground revealing a completely white Rukia Kuchiki now dressed exquisitely in an all white kimono with a high collar of many ribbons. The front seam of her new attire was sealed by three ribbons which reached to her back before they separated, creating multiple, individual loops of ribbon. Her detached sleeves were also crowned with three layers of ribbon and an ornament of ice was in the left side of her hair; another ornament hung off the bottom of her collar of ribbon. Her zanpakutō was now as clear as crystal, yet the detail was still visible; truly it was the most beautiful zanpakutō in Seireitei.

She slowly thawed and the colour came back to her face as the frozen material at the edge of the field began to let off a few clouds of steam. The captains entered the frozen area and observed her stillness and silence for the next five minutes before her chest physically moved, signalling her new breathing.

"So, Captain Kuchiki," Shunsui asked, "what do you think?"

"Vice-Captain Kuchiki is certainly powerful, though it is dangerous to herself as much as it is her foes. With practice, she will overcome almost any who would stand against Seireitei."

"And what do you think, Captain Suì-Fēng?" Despite his personal surprise at the normally critical noble, Shunsui remained outwardly calm so his approval would not yet be visible.

"It's easily one of the more powerful zanpakutō, and since she was the vice-captain under Captain Ukitake, she most likely already knows how to lead a division."

Finally letting out a smile, Shunsui spoke to Rukia, who was taken aback at the compliments and observations of the other two observing Captains. "It seems you have great potential if the praise of these two are anything to go by. Let me be the first to congratulate you on your promotion, Rukia Kuchiki, Captain of the Thirteenth Division."

It took barely a moment for Rukia to process the words and she bowed respectfully to the Captain Commander. "Thank you sir! I will work hard to ensure a strong and peaceful division." She rose from her bow and used flash step to arrive at her quarters and give her first technical order: She would have Kiyone and Sentarō help her clean and organize the Thirteenth Division Captain's quarters and office. A sombre task in the least, as it had not been cleaned since the last time her former captain, Jūshirō Ukitake, died.

* * *

It was two days later when Ichigo opened his eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling and grunted as he turned his head only to see what he perceived to be medical equipment in a green walled room. _"What happened?"_ he thought. "Oh, right." he said, giving a voice of recognition to the answer in his memory. Feeling fairly groggy he slowly sat up and stretched his arms before paying more attention to the room he was in.

"Good morning Mr. Kurosaki, how are you feeling?" a feminine voice said.

Turning his head and attention to the newcomer, he saw a tall woman with violet hair who seemed rather intimidated, though he wasn't sure why. "Good morning Miss..." he replied, not remembering her name from the few times he overheard it; he was sure something else happened as well but that was escaping him as much as her name was.

"Kotetsu, Isane Kotetsu. Vice-captain of the Fourth Division." She looked a little more nervous now. "Our first encounter wasn't under the best of circumstances."

Yup, something definitely happened. "I- I see." Ichigo was also getting a little nervous. "I'm sorry, but I don't really remember you."

"I- I guess that makes sense, it was over two years ago and a lot has happened since then."

"Do you mind if I ask what happened? I feel like it's something I should remember."

"Oh, it... wasn't too important. I was one of the three vice-captains you defeated before you fought Captain Kuchiki."

It took Ichigo a moment and Isane relaxed a bit when she saw Ichigo struggling to remember. "Oh, you were the ones who went to chase Renji and Rukia!" There was no anger in his voice, he seemed to be relieved about just being able to remember the scuffle. "Y-yeah, sorry I hit you so hard. I didn't want to kill anyone so I just tried to take you out of the fight. I hope there's no hard feelings, I was just trying to protect Rukia."

Isane smiled in relief, the man in front of her wasn't as hard to deal with as she feared he might be. "Oh, it's okay: it's been over two years and I wasn't really that hurt. I woke up after a few minutes and recovered nearly right away."

"T-that's good to hear."

A short, nervous laugh was shared between the two and soon an awkward silence made itself briefly present until Isane began the checkup, letting Ichigo know as she placed her hand upon his forehead. "Mister Kurosaki, your spirit energy is fighting mine and I'm having trouble checking your vitals."

Ichigo reached behind his head and rubbed the back of his neck. "Oh, sorry about that." He subsequently took a breath and released it slowly to help himself relax, he wasn't sure how to do that yet, but he would sure try.

"Thank you." It wasn't an instant calming like the other captains but after thirty seconds she was able to get a decent reading and feel that nothing was wrong, aside from the hollow feel she received from it. "Mister Kurosaki, are you like Captain Hirako by chance? I believe the term he used was 'visored'." Ichigo's look of surprise and concern was easily discernible as his spirit energy kicked Isane's hand away subconsciously. "Is something wrong Mister Kurosaki?"

Ichigo quickly looked away, realizing he had reacted on instinct. He then looked back toward Isane. "No, nothing's wrong. I just didn't think too many people knew about that, sorry."

"I understand," Isane replied, "you were surprised." Isane's next words were an attempt to get things back to relaxed. "Y-you know, for someone Captain Zaraki holds in high esteem you certainly don't act like most of the men from the Eleventh Division."

"That's because those guys are crazy..." Ichigo's eyes suddenly went wide and he paled a bit. "they don't know I'm here, do they?" He began to look around the room and focused on the unopened window.

Isane giggled before recalling the recent development in the Eleventh Division. "Actually, Captain Zaraki has been spending his time looking for his vice-captain, she disappeared and hasn't been seen since." Her voice was sombre and seemed slightly distressed.

"That sounds bad, I hope they find her soon."

* * *

Meanwhile, in the world of the living, the Sahara desert: One Dr. Benjamin Leary was frantically writing notes with a large smile, one not seen on his face since he was a child. The tall but lanky scientist with greying hair worked with the fervour of ten men as he quickly filled out paragraphs of his new discovery.

"Doctor Leary," a female voice asked, "are you okay?"

"I'm more than okay Jessica!" he replied with glee, still filling his journal with new words.

"I'd prefer if you spoke to me more professionally, Doctor Leary." There was more than irritation in her voice, there was condescension.

Benjamin looked toward the woman and stared at her for a moment: She was around five and a half feet tall with dark brown hair that barely met her shoulders and had hazel eyes that never looked lost; she was only a few years younger than him at thirty-five years of age. "Sorry Je- Doctor Mare, I just got too excited."

The woman smiled slightly, "I can see that," she replied, "Although all we've seen is sand, even in that so-called 'treasure chamber'."

"Ah, but that _is_ the treasure."

Jessica was confused, it was normal sand. "How is _that_ the treasure? Maybe you really have gone mad." There were already rumours, maybe there was something to them.

"That hurts Je-Doctor Mare." He had publicly stated he would prove the existence of the spiritual. He could see ghosts, and despite the support he was given, he was no less aware of what some of his less enthusiastic colleagues called him. Dr. Jessica Mare was one of the more understanding and open-minded people to help him out, in his opinion. "Give me two weeks once we return to my lab and I will show you what I have seen my entire life. With my theory everyone will look at death in a new light."

With a look of disbelief, Jessica brought her hand to her forehead and tapped it with her fingers, it was a habit she'd developed when she was younger. "If you're theory is right I'll ask you out on a date."

At this point Benjamin barely registered Jessica's words as he began filling out his journals again, adding a few charts to them."

* * *

Ichigo was cleared to leave the next day and was picked up by Rukia and Renji. Apparently they were supposed to take him to meet Captain Kyōraku and Shinji; for what he wasn't sure.

* * *

 _ **Author's Notes**_

On the edits made to this chapter: I have reformatted some things and rewritten others, including my worst mistake: giving an active role to Tōshirō Hitsugaya, who should be unconscious at this point in time. Now on to the original notes:

Of note: The quincy invasion, while similar in some aspects, has proceeded differently than in canon; this helps me set up for the all new, original plot I have planned (I have yet to see anyone with this idea). While Ichigo is in it, and plays a large enough and significant role, I will focus on many of the other characters as they become relevant to key events in the plot. There will be original characters and canon characters that appear, with no real main character, aside from Ichigo—but only because he appears more often. This is a learning experience for me, so if I do something wrong let me know, I always seek to improve my writing.

This story is not about romance, though I will likely include it as a minor element if it makes sense. I will not stretch something I think hasn't had a natural enough progression, and that goes for everything else too.

(Edit: This story wasn't originally going to have a focus on romance... but the story has written itself in such a way that I feel it deserves a sub-plot status now (I let my stories write themselves, if that makes any sense). It's also allowed me to do something with a character I wasn't expecting, and hopefully it comes as a real shock... though I admit it's still beyond the scope of chapter 5, so maybe chapter 6-7? OCs will not be paired with CCs, just in case you're worried.)

Anyway, chapter 5 is in the works (nearly done). My health has made me lazy(er), so I apologize for the 1+ year delay... hopefully I can finish the story in its entirety before going on a long hiatus again.

Anyways, have a good day and God bless,

SomethingAncient


	2. Chapter 2: Trapped in (not) Paradise

Hello and welcome back to this story. I hope you enjoy it and a review would be greatly appreciated. My Author's Notes are at the end.

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or make money from this fan made fiction.

Speaking out loud – "Hello, how are you?"

Thinking – "I wonder how you are doing."

Edit: I accidentally included Yachiru when she should have been missing, so I fixed that.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach or make money from this fan made fiction.

 **Out of the Bag: Chapter 2**

The day after the captains' meeting found Orihime and Sado, also known as Chad, in Karakura Town meeting together at an arcade with Tatsuki Arisawa, Keigo Asano, and Mizuiro Kojima. The group was sitting in one of the dining booths discussing what had happened in Soul Society while eating both traditional and more American fast food.

"So he's just staying there now?!" This was Tatsuki speaking up, possibly a little too loud. "Unbelievable, he won't go with this will he? Doesn't that count as some sort of, I don't know, suicide or something?"

Orihime looked down at the table and began touching her index fingers out of nervousness. "Well, i-it's because he may end up hurting someone here. Not on purpose, it's just..."

"He's too powerful for normal people." Chad finished. "They're working on a way to bring him back."

They already knew the reason, and they were warned it might happen; but the small chance of it happening had allowed them to eventually put it out of their minds just before Orihime and Sado had returned.

"At least we can visit him." Said Mizuiro.

"That's right!" Exclaimed Keigo, "Then we can let him know what a jerk he's become! How dare he become such a big shot withou-"

Keigo was quickly silenced by Tatsuki with a jab to the face from across the table. "Shut it. You're enough of a hassle as is."

"You can get to Soul Society?" Asked chad, his voice giving away a measure of surprise.

Tatsuki was now thinking about something and Keigo was out of it so Mizuiro gave a reply to Sado's question. "One of the captains gave us these tickets that would give us access."

Chad thought for a moment before his reply."Mmm." he grunted.

"Will we be okay if we visit Ichigo?" Everyone turned to Tatsuki who was openly worried. "I mean, he's too powerful to stay here; and we all felt that weight when we were around powerful hollows and soul reapers, what if he hurts us?"

"Me and Sado don't have any problems around Ichigo," Orihime chirped, "I'm sure we'll all be fine."

"We're not you or Chad, Orihime, we're not as powerful as you two." Tatsuki was a little sore about things from time to time; she had good reasons to be.

Orihime adopted a thoughtful look before slamming her fist into her hand enthusiastically and speaking up. "Then we'll just have to make you stronger!" Keigo, Mizuiro and Tatsuki looked toward her in disbelief. "We can train at the Urahara Shop, let's go ask Yoruichi before she leaves!"

After paying the bill the group of friends left for the Urahara shop.

* * *

"What do you mean I 'can't go back'?!" Ichigo shouted. His voice carrying far enough to scare off any would-be eavesdroppers in the First Division captain's quarters. "I have a family and friends to return to!" His anger was to be expected and it was unfair to do this to him; everyone involved knew this. "Why are you trying to keep me here?"

Shunsui kept his calm, Ichigo may have been letting out a bit of spiritual pressure but it was better he get it out of his system now: it was better if he didn't scare away his new squad before he was able to get to know them. "You can't go back immediately." he said, beginning to sit down and offering Ichigo the seat across the low table from him. "You're spirit energy is too much for the living world to handle right now. Kisuke is working on something to allow you to go back."

While angry, Ichigo wasn't anywhere close to out of his mind so his response was much calmer. "So this is temporary?" he asked, getting a nod from the Captain-Commander. "How long am I here for?"

"Kisuke has told me it should take no longer than two years. But he works pretty quickly sometimes." Shunsui just waited for Ichigo to take in the information and waited for a response.

"That's a lot of time Mr. Kyōraku, is there anything I can do to shorten it?"

"Hmm..." He sounded out; it was then he discovered his moment – it was the perfect time to introduce Ichigo to his idea. "Actually, there is something that might help!" He was both excited and jovial while his forearm pointed into the air with an extended index finger.

"What is it?" Ichigo questioned; he was still standing as he had forgotten about the offered seat.

"Well," began Shunsui, "I need to quickly fill in the empty captain positions and even a temporary captain will help make things go more smoothly as we recover from the war with the quincy."

"You want me to be a captain?" Ichigo was having trouble believing it. "Not to sound ungrateful, but aren't there people more capable? I'm younger than everyone in Seireitei."

"You may be young, but you're definitely capable; and I received the recommendations last night." Ichigo was still looking at Shunsui with suspicion but that turned to surprise. "If nothing else you can help the squad train and give them something to aspire towards."

"Recommendations...?"Asked Ichigo, realizing there was something else at work. "Okay, what's really going on?" The scowl on his face leaving no room for anything less than direct.

"Well I suppose it won't hurt too much to let you know, would you like to sit down and have a drink?"

Ichigo looked down to the open seat and up to the low table to then discover a container of saké and two saucers sitting on it. Sitting down, he politely refused the drink and awaited the incoming explanation: it was rare to get the full story in advance of the coming storm – whatever that may be.

"I'm not sure how much you know about the hierarchy of Seireitei, but it all starts with the Soul King. Underneath are the Royal Guard and Central Forty-Six. Central passes laws and acts as a court to govern disputes and trials; they also lead Seireitei in the larger picture." Ichigo nodded, he knew to some degree what Central Forty-Six did; but not to the extent to which they ruled. "Well the new Central Forty-Six is concerned about how much damage you might cause in the living world so they want to keep you here permanently." Ichigo was about to say something but Shunsui continued his explanation. "And as things are right now: I can't reason with them. However, if you can seal up your spirit energy to an acceptable level, I can get them to back down and we can send you home."

Ichigo understood and didn't like it, but one thing was still bothering him."So how does becoming a captain help me do any of this?"

"Most of the men in the divisions are ranked twentieth seat. They aren't very strong and many of them die before they discover Shikai. Someone of your calibre could kill one of them with your spirit pressure if you wanted to." Shunsui watched as Ichigo's scowl hardened further, waiting for the point. "If you can learn to be around them without endangering them you will have naturally grasped some of the finer points of controlling your spirit energy."

Ichigo thought over it for a while before realizing something else. "But I don't even know how to control my spirit energy to start with."

"Don't worry about that too much. I received one of the recommendations with the stipulation that you train with one of the captains."

Ichigo was unsure if he would be accepted by whatever squad he was posted to but learning from a captain would make things go much more smoothly. "I... guess... that... works." He still wasn't completely sure how well things would turn out. "So, who's training me?"

"Suì-Fēng, she's the captain of the Second Division and head of the Onmitsukidō."

"Alright," said Ichigo.

Shunsui looked down toward his saucer and filled it up for the second time before bringing it up to his lips and slowly drinking it. "There is something else you need to know, but Captain Hirako wanted to be the one to tell you."

"Shinji?"

Kyōraku just shrugged as he filled his saucer again. "He figured he should be the one to tell you."

"I see." replied Ichigo as he got up. "And thank you for being upfront about all of this." He quickly left the room and sought out Rukia and Renji.

* * *

Nanao, Rukia, and Renji were standing in one of the Eight Division's many courtyards and talking as they waited for their respective charges to finish their own discussion.

"So he's actually your uncle?" The question was redundant and was more to reaffirm what Rukia had just heard come from Nanao's mouth. "See Renji, I told you there was nothing suspicious between them."

The aforementioned soul reaper was flush with embarrassment as he tried to defend himself while Nanao looked up at him with both disdain and disgust. "But you- I mean he- It just looked like-"

"Shut up Renji," interrupted Rukia, "you're making a fool of yourself."

"Oh, come on! You never thought about it that way once?!" he yelled in reply.

Rukia simply elbowed him in the gut to silence him while calling him a fool. "So what did the SWA talk about at the meeting?" She was referring to the meeting that had taken place at the time of her and Renji's test for captaincy.

"Rangiku wanted to talk about celebrating two human holidays called Valentines and Halloween: she said it was about giving candy and chocolate to other people and might draw Yachiru out of her hiding place."

"Oh, I've heard about those." Rukia Replied, "Valentines is about relationships and chocolate is given to others based on how you feel about them, I think it's connected with white day. One type is for everyone and another type is given to lovers or close family. Halloween is-"

"Messy." came a voice. Everyone turned to see Ichigo approaching them. "Halloween is an excuse for idiots to be irresponsible and leave trash everywhere, I don't like it." The heavier than usual scowl quickly faded as he got closer.

"So Ichigo, how'd it go?" Asked Renji, "You feel like a captain yet?"

Ichigo looked incredulously at Renji."No, what kind of question is that?"

Renji stepped toward Ichigo and into his personal space."An encouraging one, unless you're _that_ ungrateful." The comment was one that would usually set off an argument.

Unbothered by the proximity Ichigo fired off his clarification. "I _meant,_ how did you know what we were talking about?" The comment left Renji surprised, he expected to egg-on the seemingly hot-headed friend.

"Everything was discussed in a meeting." said Rukia, quickly moving between Ichigo an Renji to prevent an argument.

Renji backed away and let Ichigo reply to the sudden revelation. "Oh, well that makes sense. What else happened when I was out?"

Rukia smirked a little, it was too easy. "Oh, not much. Did you _want_ something to happen Mister _Hero_?" Her voice was sweet with sarcasm.

"No!" Ichigo replied indignantly. "Then _I'd_ probably have to save _your_ hide again." He'd play this game anytime.

"Yeah right! I'd have to save myself if took as long as last time. What were you doing, growing food for your campaign?"

"At least I wasn't sitting around doing nothing the whole time."

Nanao looked on in amusement as other soul reapers nearby gathered to see the commotion. "Do they always do this?"

Renji just looked on in very slight disbelief. "It happens, at least we aren't facing an enemy this time."

Suddenly Nanao's face revealed worry and disbelief at the implication of his words. "They do this while fighting enemies?"

Renji simply shrugged while recalling a memory. "Me and Rukia were visiting Ichigo before the quincy showed up and they were arguing while we were fighting four adjuchas class menos."

Nanao looked up at Renji and back to the arguing duo. "They could get themselves killed."

Once again Renji shrugged and now rolled his eyes. "Not likely," Renji rebutted, "Look at them, they're practically smiling."

Sure enough Nanao realized the two were, in fact, barely able to hold any resemblance of a serious face as they argued, then the argument ended and both changed the subject while genuinely smiling.

Pushing her glasses up the bridge of her nose, a gleam in her eyes present, Nanao smirked a little as she spoke her next words: "The SWA will be interested to know of this."

Renji turned to Nanao with growing suspicion and maybe a bit of fear. "The SWA, what do they have to do with this?"

Looking back to Renji, Nanao straightened her face with a hint of indignation. "That's for me to know and the SWA to find out."

A shiver went down Renji's spine. "Whatever, leave me out of your gossip club."

"Hmph." It was now a look of full indignation.

Ichigo and Rukia grabbed Renji before Nanao could say any more. "Come on Renji, we need to head to the fifth division. See you at the next SWA meeting Nanao."

"Until then." She replied, Renji was the only one to notice her subtle smirk.

* * *

Upon meeting Shinji, Ichigo realized this would be a very serious meeting. "C'mon in," said Shinji, his tone with none of it's normal colour. "there's two things I need ta talk ta ya about."

"What's the matter?" asked Ichigo, his voice matching Shinji's seriousness.

"There's two things ta talk about. The first has ta do with my vice-captain Momo. I need ya' ta take her in and help her out."

"What happened... and why can't you handle it?" It was obviously serious but nothing Ichigo could figure out by the currently vague explanation.

Shinji paced a little, which was odd for the normally confident captain. "Ya see, Momo was the vice-captain under Aizen; she was also his biggest victim."

"You mean the girl that Tōshirō stabbed when he thought she was Aizen? Rukia told me a little about her." He was told through reprimand after mistakenly calling Orihime Aizen's greatest victim a month or so ago.

"Yeah, her." Shinji looked uncomfortable, this wasn't like him at all. "Well Aizen left her one more unfortunate surprise, an' I don't know how it'll affect her."

Ichigo was beginning to catch on, if only slightly. "What do you mean 'don't know how it'll affect her'?"

"I know what it'll do ta her soul, but I don't know how her mind'll turn out. After all she's been through she's pretty chipper now... but this might break her."

"So why me?" Ichigo asked. "Haven't you gone through this before?"

"The difference here is she wasn't ambushed by an enemy, she was betrayed by someone she loved; and there's no reverting this time. This next thing is permanent."

"So why me?" sure the question had been asked before, but that didn't make it any less relevant.

"I talked ta Kisuke, and he told me 'bout Xcution." Ichigo winced at this. "Yer the closest to knowing her pain and getting over it. Ya even retrieved Ginjo's body."

"So he knew." Ichigo then let out a sigh as his shoulders dropped and voice softened. "Guess he knows me too well." Taking another breath in, Ichigo straightened his posture and regained his scowl. "Will the others help me?"

"Na, yer strong enough. But this brings us to our next topic: Kensei and Rose are dead."

"Dead, who killed them?"

"You, yer massive Getsuga just happened to wipe out the location they were in." He then grabbed Ichigo's shoulders and stared him in the eye. "But no one blames ya, ya hear me? Ya were in another dimension when ya fired it."

Rukia and Renji had been oddly quiet on their way to see Shinji and now Ichigo knew why. "So I... killed Kensei and Rose?" The person being asked was Shinji. Ichigo's day had just become worse than he could have imagined.

"But no one blames ya." replied Shinji. "Ya didn't know where that Getsuga would land and Kurotsuchi was the one who placed 'em where they were.

"It wasn't a Getsuga." Ichigo replied, his voice extremely sombre as he pulled away from Shinji's grip. "I knew it could tear through dimensions, anything really; it's why I didn't want to use it."

Shinji was taken aback before recovering seamlessly. "But ya still didn't know where it would land, did ya?"

"Well no, but-"

"Then stop makin' a big deal about it. Things happen in war."

"I... I need time to think." And without missing a beat Ichigo left the building before using shunpo to find a place to be alone.

* * *

A few hours later Ichigo was sitting in the place he conquered his bankai, quietly contemplating his past, present, and future when he was brought back to reality by the voices of Renji and Rukia.

"What is this place Renji?"

"Some sort of training area Ichigo and Yoruichi used."

"Isn't this Illegal?"

"How should I know? I was only here the one time."

"Well it _was_ a quiet place." Ichigo interrupted. Both Renji and Rukia looked to Ichigo who was standing in front of them with a neutral scowl. "So why are you here?" he asked.

"To get you out of your inevitable rut, fool! You always make things hard on yourself."

Instead of retorting, Ichigo sighed and shook his head. "I've already thought about that, I'm worried about something else."

"Really..." There was a good amount of suspicion revealed in Rukia's voice.

"Yes 'really'; I happen to have more than myself to think about now that I'm a captain." He looked up a little, staring at nothing, "It's strange to be responsible for so many people." his voice much softer than normal.

"Yeah, you'll be fine. And now we're going to celebrate our promotions." Ichigo now sported an incredulous look upon his face. "What's with that look? We earned these promotions and I'll be damned if we're not celebrating!"

Ichigo relaxed and shook his head at the seemingly inevitable, "Fine, we'll celebrate."

* * *

It was early in the morning and Ichigo had just finished escorting both Rukia and Renji to their barracks. The two had gotten drunk and Ichigo felt the need to make sure they didn't get into any trouble on their way back. He had a few drinks but stopped before he could get inebriated, he did need to control his spirit energy and it wasn't second nature to him like it was to the others: those lessons Suì-Fēng was supposed to give him would be welcome. It didn't take long to get to what would be his new charge and he hesitated a little, staring at the gates; he was glad Kyōraku stopped by to hand over his, Renji's, and Rukia's Haori. His brows furrowed, _"Come to think of it, that's when the heav_ _y_ _drinking began."_ His thoughts were soon interrupted by the opening of the gate.

A short man looking to be about 30 opened the gate before his eyes widened and he stuttered slightly. "H-hello, you must be the new captain?" The man looked nervous – possibly shaking, the person in front of him had a scowl that could frighten a wolverine, and a spirit pressure that weighed heavily.

"Ah, yeah." Ichigo replied, "I was with some friends, sorry if I'm late." Ichigo was now the nervous one, rubbing the back of his neck even. "I don't want to wake anyone so if you could just lead me to an empty room I can sleep in that would be appreciated."

"Oh, well the third seat, Tatsufusa Enjōji, had wanted me to introduce you to him as soon as you arrived here." The smaller man was starting to sweat.

"Sure, if he wants to see me that's fine." Ichigo looked inquisitively at the man in front of him; he really was nervous. "My name's Ichigo, let's try to get along." Ichigo even managed a slight smile.

"T-Taichi Herupā, thirteenth seat, it is a pleasure to meet you." The smile given to Taichi was not the most natural looking thing he'd seen in his life. Thankfully he didn't need to worry about it for long as he was now bringing Ichigo to Tatsufusa, who would then do the rest.

A quick knock on the wooden frame of the sliding door had it opening in short time, the man on the other side was large, and looked like a mix of Japanese and Native American nationalities; especially with that braid of black hair. The man was bigger than Chad but held this pompous air about him, especially apparent with the way he greeted his new captain.

"Oh, you must be Ichigo Kurosaki! It's a pleasure to meet you. It's pretty late but since I've been running this place for a while I should probably show you some of the more complicated details about being a captain."

 _"He's somewhere between full of himself and a suck-up."_ These were the thoughts of Ichigo, who really wanted to sleep. _"But he probably knows a few things I don't."_ He sighed and rubbed his nose. "Thank you for staying up for me Mr. Enjōji but it's fairly late, so why don't we do this tomorrow morning so we can both get some sleep." Ichigo didn't like Tatsufusa, but he was third seat for a reason... probably, so putting up with him would, also, probably be necessary. At least until someone else showed more promise.

Tatsufusa was somewhere between relief and disappointed as he started to show the new captain to his quarters. _"He doesn't seem that disciplined, but his spirit pressure is definitely up there with a captain's. At least he's doesn't seem as strict as Vice Captain Ise._ "Yes Captain Kurosaki, let me show you to your quarters. And, if you don't mind me asking, why are you letting out so much spirit pressure?"

With a look of surprise, Ichigo quickly tried to reign in some of his spirit energy. _"No wonder the guard was sweating."_ He hoped it somehow helped. "Sorry, I just have trouble controlling it all."

Tatsufusa was taken aback, a bead of sweat making it's way down the back of his neck. _"Is this guy clueless or just that powerful?"_ The pressure went down a little but there was sill a thick air about the new captain. "That's alright," he nervously laughed, wiping the back of his neck, "sometimes even I slip up and scare one of the twentieth seats; it's perfectly fine." Soon enough Tatsufusa stopped and motioned to a set of sliding doors in front of him in a way one might present something. "This is your room Captain Kurosaki, I'll send someone to bring you to your office in the morning."

"Ah," replied Ichigo, "thanks. I'll see you tomorrow then." Tatsufusa left and Ichigo promptly went to the futon and fell asleep; there was much to do in the morning and Ichigo was not going to be dozing off in the middle of the morning if things got boring.

* * *

It had been two weeks since the appointment at the fourth division and Momo was now approaching the front gate of the Eighth Division's barracks. Apparently nothing was wrong with her, although she suspected something was up since she was asked to transfer to the division she was about to enter the next day. But maybe that was coincidence: the Captain-Commander was trying to fill leadership positions; and with the Fifth division having two vice-captains Captain Hirako was most likely pressured into letting one go to another division.

"Good morning, are you vice-captain Hinamori?" Momo looked to the speaker, a man who was as short as she was.

"Yes, I am." she smiled, the transfer was smooth so maybe that was a sign of things to come.

The man's back went stiff and he saluted. "I have been asked to bring you to Captain Kurosaki's office, Vice-Captain Hinamori."

"At ease, let's get to Captain Kurosaki's office then."

"Right away Vice-Captain."

After a few minutes Momo was in front of an open set of sliding doors seeing her new captain with one hand in his orange hair as he filled out paperwork behind a desk with two stacks of paper on his left. He looked frustrated but not lost, which was a relief. She knew he was new to the job so having to teach the young captain the ins and outs of paperwork would have taken a significant amount of time with all of the terms there were to learn.

"Captain Kurosaki, Vice-Captain Momo Hinamori is here."

Ichigo looked up and relaxed when he saw Momo, she would be able to help with his most recent trial. "Thank you... um, what's your name again?"

"It's fifteenth seat Yoi, Captain."

"Right... Yoi, Thanks. Continue doing what you were doing before."

"Yes Captain!" he saluted.

Momo walked into the office and presented herself. "Good morning Captain Kurosaki. Vice-Captain Momo Hinamori reporting for my new post."

Ichigo got up from his seat and mad his way toward Momo and offered his hand, which she took. "Ichigo Kurosaki, nice to meet you. I'm not sure if you want to get settled but before you do could you please help me out with some of these papers? I think I'm being pranked or something."

Momo looked up with a raised eyebrow to see a bit of a pleading look on Ichigo's face. "Pranked?" It sounded like something someone would do in the academy dorm buildings; and was subsequently punished for. Maybe her new captain wasn't as proficient as she first thought. "Let me see."

Ichigo grabbed a piece of paper off the desk and handed it to his new vice-captain. "It's a request for inspection form; but do I actually have to inspect how 'sturdy' the beds are?"

Momo looked further at the request and saw that the writing was laden with various, subtle, innuendo. "Oh, my..." her cheeks were starting to flush and she coughed them normal. "that's, um... bold?" She wasn't sure quite what to think but was relieved to see the scowl of indignation. "No, you don't have to inspect any furniture."

Both relieved and annoyed, Ichigo sighed and quickly took out a surprisingly large portion of the remaining paperwork and proceeded to toss it in a garbage bin. "I hate it when women tease me about that crap. I swear, it's like they enjoy watching me squirm or something." A small giggle from Momo brought him out of his short rant and he gave Momo a questioning look.

Momo smiled innocently and replied evenly. "It's probably because of the SWA meetings. Vice-Captain Matsumoto says it's fun to tease you."

"Well hardy-har-har." He said with hard sarcasm, then his voice became more serious and a little softer, almost pleading. "Just promise me you won't do that, please? We'll be working together a lot and I'd rather not feel like I'm going insane the whole time."

"We~ll," she almost sang out, only to see a look of horror and dread cross her captain's face. She giggled a little before finally returning her voice to her normal, cheerful tone. "I'm kidding. You won't have an issue with me Captain Kurosaki."

After a sigh of relief, Ichigo spoke his thanks and showed her the room used by the previous vice-captain: the one right next to his. "This is the room the old vice captain used but feel free to pick another; mine's right here." he said, pointing to his room. "And if you want a separate office from mine just pick any room. I honestly don't know where the old vice-captain's office was, but I assume it was the one the third seat now uses."

Momo could feel some sweat form on her neck at how annoyed her new captain seemed at his third seat. "Is the third-seat really that bad? I've heard some stories..."

"He's arrogant," Ichigo cut in, though he wasn't abrupt. "I think he assumed I would promote him."

Momo wasn't quite sure what to make of the division's politics but she could feel the sweat now falling. "I see." she said, looking in the direction of the head offices. "What is he doing now, I didn't see him doing any of the paperwork?"

"I have him running communications between this division and the others; I figured he should make proper use of all that office space, and it will keep him out of my hair most of the time." He also hoped it would peg his ego down a few notches.

Looking back toward Ichigo, Momo gave the most seemingly obvious advice she could. "You could demote him." She wasn't too impressed by her captain's lack of thought at the moment.

Ichigo scratched the back of his neck, nervous of the look Momo's was giving off. "I thought about it but apparently he actually earned his position." Momo was now a little surprised. Ichigo seemed to actually try to be unbiased. "But maybe I can send him to another squad; maybe the sixth...?"

' _Okay, maybe he isn't that unbiased_.' she thought as she giggled, "I can imagine how Captain Kuchiki would react to that."

This caused Ichigo to think about Byakuya's reaction and chuckle himself, "Yeah..." then the weight of the idea hit him. "That _would_ be interesting." He was smiling with more than a hint of amusement; one might call it a smile of mischievousness. "Thanks Momo. Anyway, do what you need to do and I'll be in my office writing up a transfer. I'm just about done the backlog of paperwork and can finally get to introducing myself to the rest of the division."

Momo was flabbergasted, how could a captain _not_ introduce himself to his squad? But she was also grateful of this odd behaviour: it was considerate without the overbearing that could sometimes come with Aizen. "Thank you Captain Kurosaki, but my things are being delivered and this room is good enough so just show me what you need me to do."

Ichigo began walking and Momo followed him. "Sure, we'll write that transfer and go from there. Then you can get that office back" He sounded happier about this than he should have been.

However, this kind of honest scheming was something even she could get in on so she didn't mention a thing about it. "Sounds good, I'm sure this will be a lot faster with extra hands." Today was turning out to be a good day.

Just as the two got to their office Ichigo became serious. "Miss Hinamori, I have something important to say, but I don't know how to say it yet. So I'll tell you soon enough."

Pausing, Momo also became serious. "You should tell me. Surprises aren't good when it comes to important things."

Suddenly becoming jovial, Ichigo waved her comment off. "It's not something urgent; there's quite a bit of time – maybe a year, but I want to tell you sooner rather than later." He felt awkward saying that.

Momo gave him a look of suspicion: "That sounds strange... You're not in on something Captain Hirako is planning are you?" This behaviour had all the earmarks of one of Shinji's schemes.

 _'Crap, I told Shinji I'm no good at acting.'_ he thought, _'Especially acting that carefree.'_ "N-no, I just don't want to forget to tell you. Can you ask me to tell you in a few weeks?" He wanted to get to know Momo before dropping this proverbial bomb on her.

Momo continued her glare of prodding for another ten seconds before withdrawing it. "If you say so." She would find out later so she figured she could wait. "Now," she began, her demeanour quickly lightening up, "Where do you keep the transfer forms?"

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

I'm hope you enjoyed this chapter; if you spot any mistakes feel free to let me know.

There isn't much to explain, I think, so I'll be brief. Send me a PM or drop a review if you have a question.

The springs are loaded and the living world takes precedence next chapter. Things are happening and I have plans for Keigo, Mizuiro, Tatsuki, Chad, and Orihime.

I am indecisive on which way to use names, but am sticking to the English way of doing things for now.

Once again, the next chapter should be out in 4 months or less.

Thanks for reading, I would really appreciate a review.


	3. Chapter 3: Dawn of a New Age (Sort of)

Hello everyone, welcome back! I hope you enjoy this next chapter and a review would be appreciated. My author's notes are at the end.

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach, nor do I make money from this fan made fiction. The only ownership I claim are any and all original characters created by me.

Edits were made: Spelling, punctuation, grammar, and diction changes: It should be easier to read now. Also, I added some basic visual descriptions that were missing for several characters that were introduced this chapter.

Speaking out loud: "Hello, how are you?"

Thinking: _'_ _ _I wonder how you are doing.'__

Anything not considered normal: ****"Why hello there."****

 _ **" _ **Bold+Italics is anything not considered normal, while also in thought/**_**_ _ ** _ **private conversation**_**_ _ ** _ **."**_**_

* * *

 **Out of the Bag: Chapter 3**

Things were bad; and Kisuke was already processing the various forms of damage control in his head. He had only spent three months in the soul society, and in that time the next wave of trouble had already crashed into soul society's metaphorical shore.

This was all thanks to one Dr. Benjamin Leary. The former "crackpot" scientist was now being hailed as the next scientific giant after his discovery—and subsequent technological developments—had, for the first time in human history, accurately and reliably provided real-time images of actual ghosts. The landmark event spread throughout the world like wildfire through the information network known as the internet; and with major news networks picking the story up, the world was starting to believe in ghosts.

"Spectre Glass" it was a marvel unlike anything that had come before it: upon looking through it, one could see the spiritual. And for several legitimate and back-door reasons, it had begun to ship with new phone cases in a very fast mass production implementation, which gave ordinary people the ability to take pictures and video of things they otherwise were unable to see; albeit, without sound.

And that is what people did: many recordings were uploaded to the internet onto various video and image hosting websites as well as blogs. The final nail in the coffin of secrecy was the response and commentary of people confirming that these were, indeed, passed loved ones.

Soon enough, a website called "WhoIsThatGhost?" had been set up; the site compiled a database of "spotter" images and video, using an algorithm to compare images uploaded by "hopefuls". Most "hopefuls" never found a "spotter"; but that was to be expected by anyone who knew the full story. Kisuke, himself, had calculated the average rate of souls that failed to cross over to soul society without help.

Regardless, since the damage had already been done, what really worried Kisuke was Dr. Leary's other invention: a glove that allowed one to touch beings and objects made of spirit particles. Humanity had been lucky so far, with only one case of a recorded hollow on a backwater website, but that was bound to change. And once humanity had properly awoken to the threat of hollows, they would take action. This glove was designed in such a way to do harm to spirits, rather than help them pass over.

If humanity took action against hollows with that technology, then the balance would be in immediate danger. Worst of all, it would likely mean a war between the living and the dead. It sounded like the plot to a good action flick, but tragedy could be the only outcome. A moment later Kisuke decided on a course of action; now all he needed to do was implement it. He would speak to Ichigo's friends before they left the training room underneath the shop.

* * *

A few minutes later Kisuke heard someone knock upon the entrance to his workshop and he turned around to face the culprit. "Hello Miss Arisawa, is there anything you need?"

Tatsuki, a young tomboy with spiky black hair, took a wary step back at the suspicious man's demeanour and answered: "No, Orihime asked me to tell you that we finished fixing the training room. She still thinks you should have let her use her powers."

Kisuke simply nodded and responded in an all too jovial way, ignoring the latter part of the comment. "Excellent, Miss Arisawa! But, before you all leave, please get everyone to come to the tearoom." The group of Ichigo's friends had been using the underground training room for some time according to Yoruichi; and it was only fair that they fixed the damage they caused over time.

"...Sure..." Tatsuki said, narrowing her eyes; his personality was way too suspicious in her opinion. With a quick turn she moved toward the hatch that led to the underground training room, still unsure how Ichigo, Orihime or Chad could trust the shady shopkeeper.

Five minutes later and Tessai, a giant of a man—even taller than Chad—with very defined muscles, had already served the group tea as they sat on the floor around the room's low table, waiting for whatever it was the shady shopkeeper wanted to say. "So," Tatsuki began, "is this how things normally happen?" There was a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach, something between excitement and dread: would she finally be directly involved in Ichigo and Orihime's adventures?

While Tatsuki's words were clear, the tone of her voice implied something more, something the others weren't exactly sure she was asking. Keigo, her classmate with brown hair that grew past his shoulders a bit, sat silently and nervously; mostly because the question was directed at Orihime and Chad, while Mizuiro, another classmate, with neat, black hair that fell to his chin, was looking through his phone contacts and deleting those he hadn't corresponded with in a few months.

Chad remained silent as well because it seemed like Orihime was going to answer the question. Her hand was resting beneath her chin in a 'thinking' pose, and she was trying hard to remember how her first meeting with Chad and Kisuke went.

Suddenly, she giggled. "Oh, don't worry Ichigo!" She exclaimed with a serious, knowing look. "The red aliens are the winners, which means the dinosaurs aren't allowed to land their invasion force." The commentary—while out of context, strange, eye-opening, and silly—was a step toward normalcy for Orihime. She had stopped entirely during the last war, and moments like this were few and far between.

"What a vivid imagination Miss Inoue." Everyone looked in the direction of the cheerful voice to see Kisuke with a fan covering his face before he quickly snapped it shut.

"So what did you want to talk about?" Tatsuki abruptly asked, the suspense was eating away at her and she wasn't going to let it continue.

Kisuke gave her a wide smile while keeping his eyes overshadowed by his hat: he wasn't above pulling a fast one on Ichigo, so Tatsuki was also fair game for a little teasing. "My, my, you seem to be in a hurry Miss Arisawa; please, have some tea, it helps you relax." Tatsuki responded with a glare that went either unnoticed or ignored while he continued without missing a beat. "So~ who here's heard of Spectre Glass?" Everyone confirmed in one way or another. "Well, that saves me an explanation."

In a sudden burst of energy and dramatic movement, Kisuke pulled a phone case from his clothing and tossed the object onto the table. "This here is the looking glass to the unseen!" His voice was at once accusatory and cheerful; to Tatsuki, it was starting to get annoying. "It's lens is a glass charged with spirit particles, which allows the average person to see what we can see."

Orihime hummed and Chad nodded and grunted while Tatsuki and Mizuiro looked confused; but Keigo was the one to actually speak up. "So what does this have to do with us? I mean, we don't even need it to see spirits."

Kisuke smirked. "And that's why you're the perfect people to ask." His voice seemed more serious before it all went out the window with his next question. "How would you all like to become celebrities?" There wasn't a cricket to be found.

About a minute later, Keigo had finally managed to nudge Mizuiro in the side to ask if Kisuke was serious, since the delivery of that line left everything to be guessed. "I.. think so." came the hesitant reply.

"My, my," said Kisuke, who now sported a pout along with a look of mock hurt, "Here I offer you the opportunity of a _lifetime_ and you just question my intentions?"

"It's not that." Replied Orihime, "And it's not like I haven't thought about becoming famous like Don Kanonji, but isn't this..."

"Top secret?" Tatsuki finished. While the offer wasn't completely revealed, the entire group realized the direction the shopkeeper was heading in.

The shadow over Kisuke's eyes deepened as his voice took on a fully serious tone. "Normally, yes." he said. "But the cat is out of the bag, so to speak... or it will be soon." The others in the room gave him an odd look, nobody was talking about soul reapers so it seemed secret enough? "Thousands of confirmed ghost sightings, major news networks worldwide picking up the stories, tens of thousands of scientists accepting the evidence; the only thing they haven't encountered are the dangers."

"Hollows." Chad interjected.

"Correct. And what do you think the human race will do when it encounters this danger?"

"Defend itself." Stated Mizuiro, who was no longer looking at his phone.

"And therein lies the problem. Humans don't know right from wrong when it comes to how the spiritual realm works. We could easily have armies capable of destroying souls and threatening the balance."

Keigo was unsure of the exact point Kisuke was making, but the issue seemed menacing enough. "That... sounds bad."

"It would be the end of life in the universe." He rested both of his hands on his cane. "And there is only one solution to a threat that grand."

Orihime seemed very upset by this. "You mean... you would kill...?" She gulped as a lump formed in her throat.

"We would have to." replied Kisuke. "And that would cause a war."

"So how do _we_ stop a war?" Tatsuki asked, "I mean, we're not even out of high school yet."

"Ah," Kisuke replied, pulling out the fan with his left hand and pointing it toward the group. "There's this thing called 'YouTube'; all we have to do is film the three of you fighting hollows and sending wholes to the other side using some special equipment I'll provide for you." With a gleam in his eye Kisuke settled into a light squat as he once again rested both hands upon his cane and waited for the dramatic timing to be right. "So, who wants to be a star?"

* * *

"So..." Tatsuki began, "We just wait for a hollow to show up?" She was looking around, obviously not quite comfortable and slightly annoyed at being on film.

Mizuiro, with his left hand covered by a fitted gold gauntlet, had just pulled his phone out and began texting someone out of boredom, but his interest still remained vested enough to reply. "Apparently."

"Come on guys! We're gonna be so cool once the world sees what we can do!"

Keigo's shouting and dramatic movement was impossible to ignore, and Tatsuki shook her head in disbelief at the situation. "I can't believe that shady shopkeeper convinced me to do this." Tatsuki had intentionally lowered her voice to prevent the camera from hearing it but, apparently the effort was in vain because the feminine voice of someone came from behind the camera and spoke to her.

"It's fine Tatsuki." Orihime said, although she still remained behind the camera. "Besides, don't you think it's kind of cool? Mister Urahara even gave you guys some cool gear." Her voice sounded slightly jealous.

Tatsuki looked down, beyond her grey t-shirt and long, olive cargo shorts to her white cross-trainers and the gold, tribal-looking ankle braces. "Well... they do look pretty sweet." She then brought her arms in front of her and more closely inspected the similar golden braces around her wrists which attached to her arm and the palm of her hand. They were ingeniously jointed to allow for a full range of motion while also fully supporting her wrists to prevent injury.

According to the shopkeeper, the gear helped draw out her spirit energy to utilize it more efficiently in a fight; the ones on her ankle were the same in that regard, but instead they assisted movement. "But I still don't think these things are as safe as he says they are. I feel like an alpha tester."

"Which just makes it even more cool!" Keigo shouted, waving his golden gauntlet and a small gold-coloured rod a little too closely for Tatsuki's comfort. "We're making history, we'll be remembered for years!" Tatsuki would have replied, but was interrupted by a bone-chilling howl.

The camera quickly turned to find the source, seeing a creature off in the distance before turning back to Keigo, Mizuiro, and Tatsuki. Keigo activated his gauntlet, which turned into a medium-sized kite-shield made of green light; the golden rod projected the green light into the shape of a bastard sword. Mizuiro was similar, but his shield was small and round – like a fencer might use – and his sword took the shape of a long tsurugi with a fairly elegant, carved guard. Well, as elegant as a blue energy construct might look.

The hollow landed, revealing it to be twice as high as Keigo and four times as wide; its body rippled with folds of what might be considered fur. The white mask the creature had was elongated vertically into an oval while it's small eyes were just barely positioned on top of the creature's outer mouth.

"This one isn't that strong Tatsuki." Came the voice of the camerawoman.

"Right!" replied Tatsuki, although it seems Keigo was the one in need of reassurance as those words seemed to trigger his next actions.

Keigo swallowed his nerves and charged the menace with a great yell, but he was quickly forced to bring his shield up to block a swift punch that came from the unexpectedly agile hollow; unfortunately, it also left him vulnerable to the hollow's other hand. He closed his eyes and heard the impact but felt nothing, slowly opening them to see that Mizuiro had blocked the other fist; now both teens were in a stalemate, the backs of their white shirts letting out a glow the same colour as their equipment.

A moment later Tatsuki broke the stalemate in a red streak as she flew forward at inhuman speeds and smashed the mask of the hollow and landed without effort.

"What was _that_?!" she exclaimed as she walked up to Keigo and back-handed his head. "You just forgot your training and charged in there like an idiot!"

"C-come on Tatsuki, that thing was huge." Keigo's reply was almost a whimper. "I just... well it doesn't matter, it's dead now."

Mizuiro quickly came to Keigo's rescue. "I think he knows Tatsuki. The training wasn't going to eat us and the real thing is unnerving."

"Alright, alright." Said Tatsuki, feeling like she had just kicked an old dog. Letting out a breath she continued. "Just deflect the punch next time so you can get closer. You should be able to solo these weak ones."

More howls were heard and the camera looked to the source to show four more hollows approaching from a distance before everything faded out with "To Be Continued..." displayed in Comic Sans; the image suddenly changed as the video continued. Tessai was standing behind the shop counter while drinking tea with an excited gleam in his eyes.

"Hello dear viewers." he said, gracefully placing the tea down on the counter; his voice bold and dramatic. "What did you think? Were you scared? Intrigued? Excited?" His voice was building up to a crescendo. "Were you cheering on our intrepid heroes?!" He looked ready to calmly burst from his skin before adopting a more serious expression. "Just remember, if you see one of these creatures, please stay away from it. They are very dangerous and only those trained and with the right equipment should face one."

Tessai then leaned forward and toward the camera as if he was about to reveal a secret. "Are you, the viewer, also capable of seeing the supernatural? Would you also like to learn to fight monsters with unique spirit gear? If so then you're in luck! In the description there's a link to our new website: "humble shop dot com" where you can sign up and request gear of your very own; we will even send someone to give you specialized training. Just click on the 'contact us' tab and then click on the 'I want to save souls' link. We look forward to hearing from you!"

A whisper was heard from behind the camera. "Hey, you're taking more time than the actual battle."

Tessai grunted and looked rather embarrassed. "Well folks, it seems our time has run out! Just subscribe to this channel to see the next episode featuring our intrepid heroes! Have a good day everyone!" The video faded out as he waved goodbye.

* * *

Keigo, Mizuiro, Tatsuki, Tessai and Kisuke were all sitting in front of the computer in the Urahara Shop watching the video that had just finished. "He really did take longer than the battle." Keigo said, pointing accusingly at Tessai. "Hey, are you trying to steal the show?! You are, aren't you?!"

"Now, now, Mister Asano, I assure you: you three are the true stars of this performance." Kisuke's voice was no nonsense. "Tessai is just doing a little advertising to make sure we get enough people visiting the website." He also seemed extremely pleased with himself. "Mister Kojima, would you please open the link and head to the website? I want to show you the website and how to log in."

Mizuiro clicked on the link in the video's description and waited a few seconds as a black page loaded with the logo—cartoonish green and white striped hat resting on a cane with the word "Welcome!" written in a large font—at the top left of the screen. To its right were tabs that navigated the rest of the website in a more basic font. The first tab was highlighted and read "Home"; beside it were "Profile", "Forums", "Leaderboards", "Professionals" and "Contact Us".

"Leaderboards, professionals...?" voiced Tatsuki, "Is this some kind of game?"

Jovially, Kisuke answered her. "I just wanted to keep things friendly and inspire a little competition." He was sure his version of cheerful was annoying the young woman, and he would be sure to keep up the act when appropriate. "Mister Kojima, why don't you head to the 'profile' tab?"

Mizuiro did as requested and the page loaded with his picture, information, and rank on the page, which worried him quite a bit more than he let on. "Mister Urahara, how did it know it was me?" It wasn't a list of people since the other functions on the page like rank, ability score, group associations, security options, funds, and personal messaging were all about him.

"Oh!" Kisuke exclaimed; he really had a penchant for the dramatic. "That's a feature of the mouse you're using. It serves as authentication on the website and scans your equipment for the payment tracking program."

"We..." Keigo started.

"...get..." Mizuiro continued.

"...paid?" Tatsuki Finished.

Kisuke chuckled, extremely pleased with himself. "Of course," he responded, "for every whole you send to soul society and every hollow you cleanse, your weapons will keep track of it. All you have to do is place your spirit arms catalyst next to the mouse. And please remember you can also receive sponsorship and partnerships in the future!" The money was almost printing itself: money that would help both his future plans and the spiritually aware who chose to combat hollows.

"That's so cool!" Keigo shouted. "Come on Mizuiro, try it!" The drool was practically falling from his open mouth.

Bringing the "arms catalyst" (gold-coloured rod) close to the unique mouse caused the input device to chime in a two-toned "ding" sound. On the screen a message popped up, reading: "Thank you for your service! Your records have been saved and we will process the payment after 24 hours." Once the message went away, the border of the "Hollow Counter" box gave a purple glow and the numbers were now zero under "Kills" and three under "Assists."

"Sweet!" Tatsuki exclaimed, a knowing grin on her face.

Kisuke saw the look on her face and frowned, the realization striking him: he had found another natural warrior. "It seems you have an aptitude for this kind of work, Miss Arisawa." However, instead of sounding enthused, he became completely serious. "But please remember, hollows come in different forms and strengths. A weak hollow can be unexpectedly cunning and a strong enough hollow may not have cause to fear you. Please do be careful, I wouldn't want to inform Captain Kurosaki of your untimely demise."

An unpleasant shiver went through her spine at those words. While she wasn't as close to him as she once was, they grew up together. She knew him better than most; the idiot was protective of those around him to an extreme. He even tried to push her away to keep her safe from what he feared. It wasn't fair to her; it wasn't fair to him; but she wouldn't add more loss to that burden: that was a promise. It was her new resolve.

Seeing the new, serious look on her face, Kisuke turned toward the room's closet. _'_ _She really is like Ichigo.'_ he thought. He then pulled out three boxes, giving one to each of the three humans who starred in the video. "These mice are for you three, just plug it into your computer and it will do the rest; There's also an adapter for smart-phones. Oh, and do remember to scan your arms catalysts within the next 23 hours and 50 minutes, it helps ensure you get paid correctly."

The chosen three students nodded their heads in acknowledgement and soon began walking out when Kisuke called out to them again. "Mister Sado, Miss Inoue, I need to discuss something urgent with both of you.

* * *

Oliver: it was an unlikely name for a girl, and not necessarily popular, either. She had known that for years, was told so by many she met; the way they reacted to her name was not always pleasant, either. But she was proud of it, and of what it meant. Years before—when she was a child—she asked her parents what it meant and they told her that it was a way to remember that she could beat adversity when things got tough; she then asked what adversity meant. And it had become more precious than ever when her father died two years ago.

And speaking of adversity: this short, red-haired punk was openly laughing at her name. "Ha-hahahahaha! A girl named Oliver! Like in that stupid book." And now he had a broken nose... hopefully, that face was more solid than she thought it ought to be. "What was that for?!" Well, it was no skin off her nose.

"That," said Oliver, "is for being a little twit." Sure, the kid was younger and smaller; but that didn't mean he could say whatever he wanted without consequences.

"Well, well. You certainly know how handle yourself. Blonde hair in a stylized bob cut, green eyes, about 5'3", you'd make a good poster-girl Miss Simons."

Oliver looked to her right to see a blond man in a stupid hat, with wooden clogs and a cane, approach her. Quickly putting herself in a more defensive stance, she eyed the newcomer warily. "Who are you, and how do you know my name?" As the man got closer she felt a shiver ripple through her spine and prepared to bolt: being kidnapped was _not_ on her 'to-do' list.

"Allow me to introduce myself." the man said, giving a theatrical bow. One arm was stretched out while the other was across his stomach; he managed to balance on one leg while the other was raised behind it in some combination of curtsey and stage bow. The fact that he didn't fall over was an impressive feat. "I am the humble shopkeeper; I believe you want to save souls?" As he rose from his bow the gleam in his eye became more disconcerting, since only the gleam could be seen, his eyes were overshadowed by his hat.

Oliver's eye twitched once, and something may have broken in her mind. "... You guys work fast..." Her eyes narrowed in suspicion as she remembered seeing the first video from the Humble Shop YouTube channel only yesterday; she had clicked on the "I want to save souls." button only the day before. "I'm not being punked, am I?" Classmates that knew of her ability to see the supernatural had begun to tease her since the release of the video, and their pranks were more irritating than ever. She wouldn't rule out that this was one of them.

In fact, the only reason she bothered to respond to the video was that howl: that damnable howl had caught her attention. She saw what made them once, when she was four; and was nearly killed, too. The resulting nightmare that night had lasted for too long before she finally blacked out. She awoke three days later in hospital. Apparently the doctors had put her into a forced coma to keep her brain from working itself to death. She wanted payback.

"Not at all Miss Simons," Kisuke replied, "I assure you, I am one-hundred percent serious." He spoke in a direct tone, to sound as concise as possible. Pulling out a grey coloured orb from his clothing, he handed it to Oliver, who just looked at it in a funny way. "Just hold that a minute or so and we'll have the information needed to create your equipment."

Oliver just gave a contemplative look as she held the orb; it was both soft and prickly, however that worked. Soon enough the orb turned a dull copper colour and Kisuke had the thing back in his hands. "Your arms and armour will be delivered by a professional who will get you off on the right foot." She looked up to see that both the humble shopkeeper—who didn't seem all that humble—and the red-haired twit were both gone; a sudden breeze ran across her face and she was broken from her thoughts.

"Okay..." she said to herself in a light daze. The exchange happened very quickly and there was no way the two could have left without her noticing, so maybe she was imagining it. "I'm going to talk to a shrink... or my mother, she's cheaper."

* * *

It had been several weeks since the Eighth Division had transferred their third seat and things were running smoothly since the egotistical warrior had left. Byakuya had been pleased that Ichigo asked him for the help, which would ultimately test even his patience, as the captain had found himself mortified by the attitude of this particular third seat. Arrogance was too small of a word for the now fifth seat; and it was alarming that he was the third strongest member of the Eighth Division. Fortunately the division would be whipped into shape, or so believed Byakuya: If there was one thing Ichigo was good at, it was inspiring others to new heights.

Ichigo, however, was mentally sorting through the information from the captains' meeting moments ago: The living world had become able to see spiritual entities and events; and although they didn't have any specific details on the afterlife, he suspected some of it would leak the way Kisuke was going about the solution; although that was probably intentional.

News like this also brought his thoughts of returning to the living world to the forefront of his mind. The good part of this was that Kisuke would likely find a way to finish adjusting his body sooner—the thought put shivers through him at times—and it helped that his friends had visited him the month before, but he couldn't wait to return more permanently.

Until then, he would continue to make progress with controlling his spirit energy during the lessons he received from Suì-Fēng. He had managed to stay civil in their first meeting, and soon enough the two could get along... somewhat: it was a bizarre form of camaraderie somewhere beyond rivalry... and yet nowhere near fellowship.

Regardless, he had other things on his mind, as according to her division, several soul reapers from many divisions, including his, were now A.W.O.L. and suspected of deserting. And as troubling as this all was, it would have to be put on the back burner since Ichigo had more important business and his vice-captain was waiting for him.

* * *

Momo was confused because her captain had taken her to the most isolated facility in the Eighth Division compound: the sealed training room used for division members to practice with, and train for, bankai.

"What did you want to show me?" she asked, looking to Ichigo.

"Actually," Ichigo stated, "it's something you need to know, I think I finally know the words I want to use. And I'm sorry for not telling you sooner."

That's when it clicked for Momo, Ichigo was finally going to let her in on the important secret he had promised to tell her months ago. It was coming far later than he said he would tell her, but now was better than too late, she supposed. She was troubled, however, since Ichigo looked like he was troubled; and in her experience, that usually came with hard news. Like the day a squad of three soul reapers was wiped out due to infighting in front of a hollow.

"Momo, how much do you know about Visored?"

Apparently Ichigo had been worrying over nothing. "Captain Hirako told me everything, you're both part hollow, right?" She slightly giggled at the apparent (in her mind) triviality of the subject. She had already accepted him a few weeks back.

"Well... that saves me some explanation."

Ichigo was still troubled, maybe this was still hard news.

"Listen, I really didn't want to be the one to do this, so please forgive me if this is too much." He was bowing in front of her now; this was uncharacteristic. "Aizen was a scheming bastard, in fact, he's the reason I exist the way I do: he's the reason I'm a Visored." Ichigo looked like he was struggling more and more as he spoke. "I... I heard you were close to him, so... I'm worried-"

"W-what do you _mean_?" Momo demanded, cutting Ichigo off; she wasn't going to be accused of treason, not now. "The man means nothing to me now." she quipped sharply, this was getting dangerously close to both an interrogation and a confrontation. "I'm no spy, and Kyōka Suigetsu can't affect me while Aizen is locked up." She prepared to use flash-step to escape; sure she couldn't outrun a captain, but hopefully the shock of her sudden move would give her enough of an edge so she could hide somewhere.

Ichigo was surprised for a moment, it seemed Momo held something of a vendetta if she had already forgotten the first part of his explanation. "It's not about that Momo. Besides, Aizen is dead."

Everything felt numb and weightless for Momo, relief running its course through her every cell: when did things ever work out so... _**"wonderfully?"**_

"Is he really...?" She wasn't able to finish her question as her voice had locked up.

"Yeah," Ichigo replied, "he's dead. The attack I used to kill Yhwach was capable of cutting through dimensions, including the dimension Aizen was being kept in; the area he was in was non-existent after it landed."

"Aizen... is... dead..." Momo suddenly had an empty look upon her face, one that soon transformed into relief as she processed the information: the tyrant of her mind was no more. "Hehe." It was funny, it truly was: her new captain had killed her former captain, like a brother might chase away a bad boyfriend; and now she could let her guard down: one she had built and kept up since her rehabilitation.

"Hahahaha." The joy she showed was uncanny, but she didn't notice the concerned look Ichigo was giving her. "Hehehehe **hahahehaha!** " The air became dark as her laughter became maniacal; something was wrong. She tried to stop laughing but couldn't, and fear grew inside her when she was brought into her inner world and saw Tobiume. She didn't look or sound like Tobiume, though: her voice reverberated wickedly and her zanpakutō spirit's skin was chalk-white.

 **"Don't be afraid,"** it said, **"soon we will be unbreakable!"** Then everything went black.

* * *

 **Author's Notes:**

So, there's another chapter. It's not exactly what I had hoped to put out, I had planned to include more (I have approximately 3000 words - "big" fight scene included - already written out by hand); but this screamed at me as an appropriate place to end the chapter... I just couldn't resist the cliffhanger this time.

Anyways, I have included my first original character (OC) and tried to introduce her without it being a useless scene since she'll show up later. I hope she was done well enough and has shown off some of her personality.

She will not be a main character, nor will any OC. I don't really consider any character (other than maybe Ichigo) a main character since each character has their own part to play in this story. They're all "recur-able" characters, and I'll leave it at that.

On religions: Since this is a sensitive topic if done poorly I'll try to ignore it to the best of my abilities: because it doesn't even pertain to the plot. I might mention the general chaos when that happens in story, but so far everyone still thinks they're right because hollows don't exactly fit any image known to any religion (to the best of my knowledge). The Bleach afterlife itself is a hodgepodge of different beliefs (mainly Shinto and Buddhism) with some original content thrown into it.

Tsurugi - a double edged, straight blade, Japanese longsword that predates the Katana and appears similar to some ancient Chinese swords.

By the way: That was my first ever fight scene, so I hope it was alright. I know it was short but most fights against weaker hollows are extremely short (the first hollow Ichigo cleansed for example).

And for anyone who is curious - I set a four month deadline for all my releases since I don't know where my schedule and procrastination will put me. Realistically I could put out a chapter in a month easily, but I get distracted easily as well - especially with this medical condition that has me physically disoriented for the time being.

I proofread this myself so any pointers are appreciated if you care to let me know.

Alright, I think that's everything. Please consider leaving a review to let me know what you think of the story. The next chapter should be out in the next month but I'll leave the 4 month deadline up just in case.

Have a good month(s) everyone and God bless. Until next time,

SomethingAncient.

Edited: 2018/01/10


	4. Chapter 4: House of the Dead

Welcome to another chapter of Out of the Bag! I'm later than I wanted to be but earlier than my four month deadline... so that's something I suppose.

 _ **Response to concerns brought up.**_

The guest called "maria":

Thank you very much for the review! To answer your point/concern: I wasn't using the story to compare Orihime and Momo as victims for the sake of comparison (nor was that my intention, but I can justify that anyway if need be): It was to explain why Ichigo knew Momo's name despite having never met her. Rukia knows Momo a little bit, and having her correct Ichigo seemed like a very natural way for Ichigo to learn Momo's name, with relevance to the context, beforehand.

I'd have liked to respond faster but I can't PM guests and my stories come out when they do; so I apologize for the late-ish response. Anyway, I hope that helps you see where I came from. On to the story!

 _ **Also: A big thank you to everyone who reviewed. I really enjoy reading them and, if you've logged on to review, I will eventually get to you via PM to say thanks!**_

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach or make money from this fan made fiction.

Speaking out loud – "Hello, how are you?"

Thinking – _"I wonder how you are doing."_

 **Chapter 4: House of the Dead**

Folding his captain's haori, Ichigo placed it under Momo's head as she lay unconscious on the floor of the sealed training hall. After Momo had begun to hollowfy, he raised his spiritual pressure to the point where it knocked her out: he just hoped it hadn't done any permanent damage since Shinji said it was something only to be done in an emergency. It seemed to have halted things and now only time would tell; so Ichigo set both his Zanpakutō down and sat beside her as he waited for her to wake up.

Not long after, the doors to the training room opened and a familiar voice was heard. "Hi Ichigo!"

Ichigo turned his head and saw his former teacher Yoruichi Shihōin who was wearing the backless uniform that Suì-Fēng was known to wear... only more filled out. "Hey Yoruichi."

Yoruichi looked past Ichigo and saw Momo lying on the ground beside him. "I always knew you were a closet lady-killer." Her smirk was all too obvious and she would have laughed but he only began to react before he schooled his features. Immediately sensing the souring mood she changed her intent: although the tone of her voice remained positive "What's wrong Ichi?"

He extended his hand to where his vice-captain was lying. "It's Momo, she began to hollowfy."

Yoruichi sat down with crossed legs in front of her one time pupil. "Hollowfy?" The knuckle of her index finger and thumb grabbed her chin while her other hand gripped the elbow to keep the arm supported. "She's a visored?" It was news to her, and most of it was unwelcome since that usually meant Aizen was involved. Was he truly dead?

The surprise was evident on Ichigo's face, he hadn't expected Kisuke's most regular 'co-conspirator' to be out of the loop. "Kisuke didn't tell you?"

Yoruichi shook her head and rested both arms. "I've been too busy running errands for him. I've decided to take a break, which is why you're going to help me unwind."

"I see..." It was a good opportunity to get advice from someone he trusted, but her tone towards the end of her last sentence worried him a little.

Ichigo was acting strange in Yoruichi's eyes, he wasn't sulking but he wasn't having a good day either. This was probably related to his vice-captain. "Something on your mind?." She'd get it out of him and hopefully get what she came for too.

"Yoruichi, how did you know if you were a good captain? I'm in charge of all these people and the only thing I really know how to do is paperwork. And I'm not exactly a good leader or anything."

The question caught her off-guard but caused her to smile nonetheless. Placing an arm on his knee, she met him eye-to-eye. "Just be yourself, don't worry about the other stuff. Oh," she added with a 'matter of fact' expression, "and don't let your squad get lazy."

Ichigo gave a counterfeit smile and looked down, still not convinced of his merit. "I-"

Flicking Ichigo's forehead, Yoruichi stopped him in his thoughts. "Ichigo, you're their captain not their god! If you don't know something ask someone; if you can't do something, rely on someone. Don't do this on your own, you have an entire division to help you!"

A genuine smile of relief appeared and Ichigo felt a weight leave his shoulders."Thanks Yoruichi, it's just that today's been a hard day and I can't exactly take Zangetsu to something like that."

Yoruichi laughed at that, a warm smile on her face; it wasn't what she expected but this was still, decidedly, a good use of her downtime. "Don't worry about it, everyone has hard days."

"So how have things been with you?" The question was part genuine curiosity but Yoruichi was good company in his experience; and he needed a change of pace.

Yoruichi broke out into the nearly Cheshire grin she pulled off so well and dug into the conversation."Well, I've been extremely busy, but I've met some interesting people."

* * *

Momo awoke to see the stone ceiling of the sealed training room. "W-what happened?" she groggily asked.

"You started to hollowfy:" came a familiar voice, "are you okay? I wasn't sure how to handle the... uh, situation... so I – well I ended up knocking you out."

Looking over to see her captain, Momo saw worry on his face and everything began to cognitively work itself into place as she shed the last of her lucid state.

"Why?!" she abruptly demanded. "Why?! That rat-bastard's finally dead and he _still_ has me on a string like a marionette!" Tears were already welling up as Momo struggled to hold in her anger and sorrow. Suddenly a hand grasped the front of her shoulder which stymied her first sob.

"No." Ichigo spoke, his voice firm and without leeway. "Not anymore. I don't know everything you've gone through but I know the fear of facing your inner demons; hollow included. The thought of losing yourself is terrifying: but this is far from unbeatable. Accept yourself, trust your instinct. Then spit on Aizen's memory by coming out on top." There was a lull of silence and Ichigo wondered what was going through Momo's head; and if he had said something wrong. Suddenly she began crying, letting all her emotions out while she balled her fists so tight that her knuckles were white and blood trickled from her palms.

When she started to choke, Ichigo quickly propped her back upward to a sitting position. Turning, as if by instinct, she wrapped her arms around Ichigo's sides with great force, trying to find as much physical and emotional support as possible. Ichigo, who was not expecting this, eventually wrapped his left arm around Momo's shoulders while his right hand rubbed her back in a soothing gesture. Her actions were uncouth – unbecoming of a vice captain: _"_ _It_ _must have looked pathetic."_ she would later think; but she needed it, she absolutely needed it.

* * *

Oscar Smith was a different man. It wasn't his light-brown hair; nor was it his foggy blue eyes. His height was average at five foot eleven inches – though he would claim six foot; and his sense of fashion consisted of slightly-too-large business apparel for both a clean look and comfort. What made this man different was his ability to see ghosts; though it wasn't always like that. Seven years ago, on his twenty-second birthday, he had a heart-attack. He couldn't remember much of the event, just excruciating pain and blacking out; but he did remember waking up in a hospital bed with a new perspective on both life and the 'un-life'.

The first sign of his change was apparent almost immediately when he saw an old man floating beside him with a broken chain sticking out of his chest. One brief "freak out" later (which greatly frightened the attending nurses) and he, hesitantly, began to converse with the spirit. After confirming the ghost was real and not a figment of his imagination he realized that the afterlife was indeed a real thing – well, sort of: the old man was still on earth and the hospital wasn't filled with spirits so it was possible they just faded away after a while.

His suspicions were soon put to rest two days later when a man in black robes wielding a Japanese sword came for the old man. It didn't take long and in less than a minute the old man was sent on his way: to hell. When asked, the ferryman simply shrugged his shoulders and said: "It was his life, you'd have to ask him." A second later the ferryman had moved through the walls he originally came through and was gone. Once out of the hospital Oscar decided to improve his lifestyle, starting with his body. And it was a good thing for many reasons, one of them being the hollow he was currently facing down: the skeletal reinforcements provided by the Humble Shop were only useful if you weren't dead.

The hollow he faced had the body of a massive snake and the head of a man. Its mask was an oval with black spots randomly dotting it while its eyes were just barely above the double-mouth. And it was fast too. There wasn't much room in this New York alley and the hollow quickly shot forward with part of it's body sideways which forced Oscar to vault over it with the butt end of his halberd spirit armament. Quickly turning around he attempted to cleave the menace from behind but was forced to block its incoming mouth; this unfortunately left him sent backward at speed.

Trying to regain his footing, Oscar spun one-hundred and eighty degrees in mid-air and leapt forward – in the direction he was initially sent flying – before turning back around and skidding the last few feet backward once again. Immediately he launched forward with a speed technique he mimicked from another "spirit hunter" and swung the blue halberd diagonally upward which collided with the charging hollow. The mask had chipped and the hollow let out a great howl before using it's tail in a series of quick jabs that pushed Oscar out of the alley: one of them connecting with a parked car and terrifying pedestrians when it instantly became a pile of scrap and leaking fluids in a cloud of dust.

 _"Not good."_ Oscar thought. The alley was good cover and prevented unaware people from being unnecessarily hurt; it also kept him from being bothered while at work. He was a programmer at his company and their most recent client wasn't happy with the Humble Shop, so it stood to reason that if he was discovered he might be sent to another office until the algorithm his team was trying to solve was cracked. Another office that wasn't receiving a hefty bonus from this particular client.

Quickly refocusing on the hollow, which had been slightly distracted by the screams of other people, Oscar charged forward with his speed technique and stabbed at the hollow's mask, only needing to slightly move to dodge what was left of the now dissipating hollow. _"That,"_ he thought, _"could have been worse."_ Quickly leaving the scene to attract as little attention as possible, he hoped nothing would come of the wreck on the side of the road.

Later that night Oscar had logged in to the Humble Shop website and scanned his arms catalyst to receive the payment. New York was good money for hollows and wholes too: with so many people it was impossible for the professionals to get every last soul. It was one of the reasons he didn't want to leave the city, he'd probably lose a third of his income if he did. This put him at his current rank of one-hundred eighteen out of a worldwide seven-hundred twenty-three registered. He was the highest ranked hunter who wasn't part of a mercenary group dedicated to hunting hollows worldwide and most of them were in Asia. He was also a solid A- when it came to his capability rating which meant he could solo most hollows; though there were one or two he saw on the Humble Shop YouTube channel he never wanted to face.

A beeping noise came from the speaker of his laptop which brought him out of his thoughts as he looked to his PM inbox to see a new message from a mercenary group called Red Rabbit: they were well known for solving murder cases and working alongside police and the occasional military investigation.

[Saw the video, nice work.]

Oscar didn't remember posting the hollow hunting videos he made on his GoPro, those caused motion sickness. _"Did I get a little too drunk at that office party two weeks ago?"_ He quickly responded to clarify the situation.

[What Video?]

[The one of you fighting that snake-like hollow, with a speckled mask and eyes extremely close to its mouth. It looked like a CCTV feed from someone's apartment. I take it you have not seen the footage?]

That was definitely earlier today, he wasn't as lucky as he had hoped.

[No, is it viral?]

[I believe so, at this rate it'll have over ten million views by tomorrow night. Congratulations, not every hunter makes a name for themselves that quickly.]

 _"Shit."_ he thought. _"I hope the client at work doesn't make the connection."_ He was a programmer, but living in a decent apartment in New York City was expensive, and saving up while affording a good gym and trainer was expensive; not to mention healthy food could take a chunk from any budget. The bonus from his team's client was speeding up his future investment plans by several years.

[Well thanks.]

It wasn't this guys fault the video was captured, no point in being sour towards him.

[You're welcome. Say, do you have extra time tomorrow?]

Oscar rose an eyebrow as he stared at the screen.

[After work, why?]

[We'll be in the area tomorrow to deal with a case, and judging by the reputation of the place it may be a hollow hotspot. There is safety in numbers and you are definitely skilled enough, so we would like to request your assistance in this.]

It wasn't something he expected but a hollow hotspot meant more money to do what he wanted.

[I can be there around 7pm, maybe sooner.]

[We look forward to working together.]

* * *

The next day Oscar had finished his shift at four o'clock in the afternoon and was on his way home to prepare for his first shared hunt. Traffic wasn't awful but it still took half an hour by cab so he was in a bit of a rush since he still had to cook supper and change into his gear. Once those things had been accomplished there was only an hour left and Oscar immediately headed for the subway to get closer to his final destination and ate in the cab for the last leg of the journey (though this cost him a twenty dollar tip).

Exiting the yellow and blue cab at a police checkpoint, Oscar approached his destination of 14 West 10th street (known famously as "the house of the dead") to see caution tape and officers along with some people in a different uniform and holstered spirit gear. One of the men, who was around his height with short, platinum blonde hair approached him and quickly called out his name in a British accent.

"Mister Smith, it's good to finally meet you in person."

"Hi, you're Jeffery Lane?"

"Indeed I am; and let me just say: You were absolutely brilliant in that video, you have incredible talent. I'd say you and Miss Arisawa are the only ones capable of moving so quickly."

It was high praise considering Tatsuki Arisawa was the strongest ranked hunter in the world, not to mention the most famous. "Um, thanks. I can show you if you'd like: it takes some practice but it's a real life saver." While the speed technique was something he prided himself on, hiding something that useful among comrades was nothing to pride himself on.

The blonde's grey eyes lit up like a child with a new toy. "That would be fantastic! Once we're done here we'll all take you up on that offer."

Oscar looked around at the scene again and saw one of the officers impatiently waiting. "So what _did_ happen here?"

"Right, well two nights ago three men and one woman – all healthy and hale – suddenly dropped dead; and during the initial investigation, one of the officers dropped dead as well. Considering this place is a well known haunt, hollows are suspected to be involved. Come, let me introduce you to my team." Jeffery then lead Oscar to his team where he introduced them. "This is Isabelle, her spirit arms are the kite-shield and broadsword."

The woman in front of him, who looked a few years younger than him, gave him an incredible smile which beautifully contrasted her very dark skin. "It's a pleasure to meet you Mister Smith." she said, her own British accent being very proper. "To borrow a term from role playing games, you could call me the 'tank' of this group." She quickly grabbed the man beside her who grunted in pain. "Sorry." she said to him. The introduced man was about the same height as her – both around four inches shorter than Oscar – but lanky with very... red skin? He also wore a robe, unlike the others. "And this is my fiancee Ralph!" she chirped excitedly. "He's the 'Mage' of our group."

"Oh," Oscar said, what drew his attention were the robes Ralph was wearing; he looked like he was dressed for a comic convention. "is that why you're wearing those robes?"

"Partially," Ralph said, in an accent equally as proper as his fiancee. "Our last job was in the Bahamas and we had a small vacation with the leftover time we were allotted. Unfortunately, I forgot to use sunscreen and turned as red as a tomato. After receiving some queer stares I decided I would go all out and thought the attire fitting. It's truly entertaining to see people avoid me now."

"Except fer that one fella!" interrupted a new voice, now with laughter like a song. Oscar turned to see an exceptional looking woman a few years older than him with bright red-orange hair; he assumed her hair was naturally that colour since her own accent was Irish. That, and he didn't want to test the stereotype of the Irish temper; she also happened to be taller than him by at least two inches. "Name's Gracie, the resident 'warrior' of this group." She immediately activated her weapon and revealed a great axe with two sharpened edges; it was composed of a yellow energy marvellously decorated with a surprisingly intricate image of a medieval castle siege taking place on both sides.

The introductions were promptly interrupted by a howl and the group turned and waited for the hollow appeared. "Strange," said Jeffery, who seemed to take charge. "they normally come out immediately: this one might be more intelligent... Alright, listen well." he commanded. "I will enter the building and lure it out here, into the open. Mister Smith, since you may not know our style I'll quickly give you the basics. I shall kite the creature and let Isabelle engage it. Afterwards, Gracie usually deals a killing blow; if the hollow is tough or quick enough then I will assist in bringing it down. Ralph is our trump card for emergencies: his range is invaluable but tires him quickly so he only attacks if necessary. I want you to set up your attack in time with Gracie in the event there are multiple hollows. This place reportedly has twenty-two ghosts so we should expect the unexpected."

Without missing a beat Jeffery activated his own sword and shield combination and entered the building; within thirty seconds he exited the building with three hollows on his tail. Two of the hollows were immediately dispatched when Gracie and Oscar cleaved them while they were off their guard chasing the man who led them out; the third one lashed out a long tongue to catch the fleeing meal but found it blocked by another glowing shield. Cutting the tongue into sections as she charged, Isabelle knocked it backward and the creature gave a howl before it was stabbed through the mask from behind by Oscar's halberd in a charge using his speed technique.

At the beck of the third hollows call, two new hollows came from the building: one of them taking to the sky with crooked wings while the other howled as it leapt at Gracie, who was the most isolated of the hunters at that moment. The warrior cleaved into the hollow as two more appeared and charged: one going after Gracie and the other attacking Oscar. In a move of daring, Jeffery leapt a great distance and landed, sword first, on the hollow charging Gracie. Isabelle stepped in front of Oscar and stopped the hollow while lopping off an arm and cleaving it's mask with a sharp uppercut. The hollow in the sky now dissipating at the same time from the blast of blue energy Ralph sent it's way: His blue, book-like armament now gathering energy for the next threat.

Two projectiles, one a liquid and one a solid, flew into the shields of Jeffery and Isabelle respectively, who were both surprised and looked to see four more hollows... three more hollows enter the battlefield: Gracie had slain one right away. Ralph then launched his second beam into the hollow that shot the liquid projectile and killed it, leaving Isabelle to focus on charging the other spitter. Oscar, using his speed technique, dashed forward and killed the one that didn't shoot projectiles while Jeffery teamed up with Isabelle and killed the last spitter by stabbing straight through its mask.

Things had finally calmed down and the group of hunters were suddenly cheered by the police who had seen everything happen through their phones when suddenly, more than ten hollows came up from the sewers, blowing a large hole in the ground, which caused the hunters to fall through, only Isabelle and Oscar keeping their footing. The two stood their ground in defence of their teammates when another voice called out.

"Look aside: Ōkami no Ōji." A sudden streak of green light appeared and killed all of the hollows within seconds, finally stopping in front of the group as a large wolf. The wolf then flew toward the source of the voice and transformed into a curved katana that was quickly sheathed: the wielder of the transforming sword was a young woman with long black hair and brown eyes, but the hunters wouldn't see that until she peeked her head over the edge of crater and then helped them out of the putrid smelling hole.

"Is everyone unhurt?" she asked. The group of hunters, unable to find their voice, nodded – save Oscar who had seen one of these "professionals" before.

"Yeah, I think so, thanks. You professionals sure are strong."

The girl, who looked very out of place, thought to herself for a moment and looked puzzled. "Professionals...? Oh, that's right!" She then recomposed herself and straightened her face. "I'm glad you're all fine." She then walked through the closed front door of the house.

"That was different." Ralph spoke. "It's almost as if she wasn't allowed to converse with us."

"Yeah," Oscar added, "They're a strange bunch."

"Oh, you've met them before?"

"Yeah, years ago: before all this 'ghosts are real' thing."

"Well then, you'll have to tell us that story at the pub."

* * *

Renji stood in his office facing down Rukia who was in his office to discuss the fact that his vice-captain had interacted with hunters; or at least that's what he thought. "Renji, there were twenty-two hollows in that building, twenty-two." The bulldog in front of him, though she looked the part of a sculpture, was calmly asking about the number of hollows that had hidden in the human world for so long. "What kind of irresponsibility is that?!" she now yelled. "Renji, we lost 4 civilians and almost lost five hunters!"

"Hold on there princess! I've only been here for a few months. North America is riddled with nests of wholes and demi-hollows; and finding them isn't exactly easy."

Rukia simply looked away for a moment before huffing out a breath and relaxing her shoulders. "Fair enough."

"Wow," Renji said, "I didn't know being a diplomat to the human world would be so difficult."

"Well it is, I'm trying to prevent a war and humans dying is a good way to scare their governments into causing trouble. We're supposed to be 'professionals'." Rukia was now holding air quotes with her fingers.

"Then why are you here? My vice-captain acted according to the rules and only made sure no one died; and the investigation still isn't complete anyway."

"Yes, your vice-captain did everything well." Rukia had an expectant look upon her face and Renji wasn't sure what she wanted.

"She did..." Renji just looked at her with suspicion.

Throwing her hands in the air Rukia said her next words in disbelief. "Oh come on! I can't just visit my best friend?"

"Best..." Renji thought about his next words before coming to a realization. "Sorry, yeah. What's up?"

"That's better!" she smiled. "So how are you holding up?"

"It's annoying:" the disdain in his voice was more than apparent. "All this pressure to build our squads and the monthly audits take the life right out of you. I don't know where my missing squad members are and asking the same questions again and again won't change a thing."

"I know what you mean, we're slowly leaking personnel and all they do is try to pin it on us, the nerve!"

Renji chuckled and Rukia quirked a brow. "Imagine how Ichigo feels."

Rather than laugh, Rukia just let out a "hmmmmmmm." Renji was a little confused but she soon cleared up her thoughts. "Actually, Ichigo hasn't had an audit."

"He hasn't? Damn, that 'hero' title does have perks."

"Actually, it's because he's so new: I don't think he knows what an audit is. Besides, can you Imagine Ichigo scheming like Aizen?" The two burst out in laughter which became chortled and soon found themselves leaning on one another to avoid falling on the ground; this didn't last long as both found themselves on the tatami mats in merriment.

An Idea came to Renji and he voiced it as both were catching their breath. "Hey.. Rukia.., why don't.. we get a drink. We need to.. relax a little."

"Sure." Rukia said. "Say, we haven't hung out like this in a while..." An idea came to her and mirth was visible in her eyes, or maybe just hunger. "Let's make it a feast! This extra training I've been doing has me starved."

* * *

The earth below them was cracked and broken, like a dirt sea frozen in place. The crests of the small waves were hardened, and larger overhangs, while regular throughout the landscape, rose above in stark contrast casting great shadows over sections of the land. The colour looked to be an earthy red but that may have been due to the sky: an odd mix of blue, green, yellow, and magenta which gave an ethereal glow across the whole realm.

A group of about forty soul reapers were gathered and just behind them was a stone, chalk-white structure just large enough to fit a few tall men at once. The group was staring in awe at the scenery but no one said a word until a minute or so later when one of the women spoke up.

"So this is our new home?" In human terms she was maybe sixteen or seventeen, her real age several times that. She had black hair which came down to her ankles in a ponytail wrapped with a longer strip of white cloth. An arm came around her back and she was pulled into the embrace of a man who was a head taller than her.

"That's right love." he said, looking at her before staring into the distance. "We'll live here and grow stronger until soul society acknowledges us."

The woman looked up, over her shoulder to look at the man. "And if they don't?" Her inner fear was accompanied by a look of worry.

The man pulled her a little more to reassure his love's concerns. "They'll have to."

The woman was surprised and immediately asked a question many in the group now wanted to know. "They will?"

The man simply nodded, "Yeah, Kōun'na said she had something in the works."

"The girl from the twelfth division with the half black arm?" Truthfully, she didn't like the arm of the now former Twelfth Division researcher, there was something off about it.

"Yeah, her."

* * *

After falling asleep, Momo ended up in her inner world. The space was significantly larger than it had previously been but the scenery was still the same volcanic ocean floor surrounding a well with boiling water. What verily unnerved her though was that she did not appear in her inner world of her own will: her zanpakutō spirit had forcefully pulled her in. Speaking of her zanpakutō spirit, she was there too; still chalk white, even the wide pink ribbon and purple hakama had become shades of black and white respectively.

Drawing her weapon, Momo pointed it toward the being who now stood in front of her. "You, what do you want, and why do you look like Tobiume?!"

"I am Tobiume, why don't you recognize me?"

That's when it clicked for Momo. "The hollowfication..." she meekly trailed off.

"You are correct, and I can make us stronger than our foes, but that man – 'our' captain – won't let us; he is trouble. He is stopping us right now." Her spirit's way of talking had also changed, or was it her personality entirely?

"What do you mean won't let _'us'_? It was _'you'_ who tried to take over – wait, 'again'?" The news was disturbing. "What are you doing?!"

"I'm doing nothing, he has restrained us by the arms and won't let us move. Aren't you tired of being weak? I can make it so we are safe."

"We are safe!" she yelled as she charged her inner hollow. "Stop this right now!"

Swords clashed and the new Tobiume parried with seeming ease, pushing Momo back. "We aren't safe. He can easily kill us, the only thing stopping him is his morals; but who knows how long that will last if he is tricked into hurting us. Remember Little Shiro? We won't survive this one."

"Ichigo won't kill us, he was the only one who didn't attack us back then. He's a good person."

"So was Aizen. His kindness, the air of safety, his intelligence; and don't forget his power."

The words ground her thoughts to a halt. Ichigo was kind. He was also safe. And he had learned in months what had taken her years; there was also no doubt of his power. The parallels were there and her own thoughts sparked the next point: he was also approachable. Beyond that scowl he talked to everyone like they were someone.

"B-but... he's..." Momo was finding it difficult to talk back to the suffocating presence in front of her. "he's different." she finally got out. "Ichigo doesn't act like nothing's wrong when there's a problem. He gets irritated and loses his patience as well. And Aizen never acted the way Ichigo does around Rukia."

There was a moment; seconds, or maybe minutes passed by before the ghastly apparition of her zanpakutō responded. "Fine then," her face was one that promised ultimatum, "I'll stop, you can still be the head. But on one condition: If the man is truly safe then make sure his goal is protecting us. Become the one he confides in, be the closest person to him, be the one he won't let die..." Tobiume's face was now one of indifference. "I don't care how you do it, be his lover if necessary; but if you don't become that important, _I_ will become the head."

* * *

 _ **Author's notes:**_

So, I'm feeling a lot better now, still some scares but nothing as bad as before. A little while ago I ended up in hospital due to chest pains and laboured breathing; as it turns out I have arrhythmia. All the tests seem to be fine, with exception to the arrhythmia, so it might be my head... I have been dizzy for a year now.

On a note of deadlines: I am writing the next chapter already and hope to have that out within a few months... assuming various other IRL circumstances don't get in the way.

I have complained about how I'm not entirely satisfied with the characterization and have decided to fix that after I complete the story in a final polishing along with every other chapter as well.

IRL note: Prayer from any brothers and sisters in Christ would still be appreciated, and a big "Thank you!" to anyone who has already prayed for me.

Anyways, three subjects I'd like your opinion on:

1) Should I have romance between some of the characters? - A poll is up for this. -

Despite the ending of this chapter, there is no actual romance involved or planned at this moment. And pairings, if any, won't show up for at least another two chapters anyway. I will ask on specific pairings in a later chapter. A poll is up on my profile, just waiting to be used.

2) How are my fight scenes? Do you enjoy how I have written them? Any suggestions for improvement?

3) Chapter titles: Mine kind of suck, so suggestions are welcome – credit will be given accordingly.

 **Bleach Rant:**

Let me start with this, I am no Ichigo x Rukia "shipper"; and beyond that, Bleach wasn't a romance manga anyway.

But the ending we got made no sense... nor did much of anything produced in the last IRL 5 years. And the final Ichigo x Orihime pairing felt like the final (mocking) nail in the coffin as it represented so much of what went wrong, namely these things: Ichigo never really did anything on his own and his powers were mostly irrelevant; and this is due to plot holes.

I understand if you don't immediately see what I'm saying so I'll write a direct comparison here: Ichigo never romantically responded to Orihime and his opinion didn't really matter (as he never gave one). Let's follow the plot and I'll unravel my arguments as we go along.

Ichigo defeated Aizen... actually, no, he didn't. It was Kisuke Urahara who "defeated" Aizen with a kido spell: Ichigo was only necessary for Kisuke's plan to work because Kisuke didn't have enough power; but Ichigo wasn't strong enough to do it one his own. Ichigo defeated Juha Bach (a.k.a Yhwach)... but without Aizen he would have lost. Theoretically, Isshin could have used the final Getsuga Tensho and taken Ichigo's place fighting Aizen. Remember that thing about a weaker spiritual pressure not being able to effect a greater one? All Isshin had to do was transcend and Aizen's illusions wouldn't have worked (this is backed up by Aizen himself who said he was concerned Yamamoto was too powerful to be affected by Aizen before the Hogyoku came into play).

Why did Aizen survive the final Getsuga Tensho? Aizen reached the height of his power and was so surpassed by Mugetsu that he couldn't feel Ichigo's power. Nanao, who could feel Yamamoto's power was frothing at the mouth from the pressure. Take all of that power and condense it into one shot and Aizen survives? How? The gap in power was to the point where Ichigo transcended Aizen, which is much greater of a gap than losing consciousness from being able to feel something. Call this "plot hole sucker-punch" number one.

But whatever, let's continue since that's what we got; we now come to the Fullbring arc: A brilliant way to explain Chad's powers (Orihime's were something else, though never defined. I'll make up a theory on that to be used in this story later.), a blatant disregard to the "A stronger spiritual power will be less effected by a weaker power until the gap is large enough that no effect is felt." rules that had been established. Oh, right: the Fullbring arc didn't need to happen. Fullbring [enables them to manipulate the souls contained within matter. Everything, even rudimentary objects such as lampposts and chairs possess a soul, however small. - Bleach Wiki]. Essentially, all they needed to do was steal Ichigo's badge. Kisuke returning Ichigo's powers had nothing to do with that particular plot anyway.

But now everything's good: the quincy are attacking, stealing bankai, we're getting into the action again... hold on: Stealing bankai? Are you serious? Really? We get an explanation, right? I mean, you can't have people lose part of their soul unlocked with decades or centuries of hard work for no reason... right? Oh, they have medallions and it's spiritual sci-fi? Sarcasm aside, no explanation was ever offered as to why quincy powers suddenly did more than pull energy from their environment and change it to match their own and power them up. It's not that you can't have powers get stronger, but to do things that don't even coincide with how your powers are supposed to work, that is nonsensical. So, every soul reaper that had their powers stolen was "plot hole sucker-punched" number two.

Now we get to something I absolutely loved, Ichigo's new zanpakutō. I loved this for one reason: We received the explanation as to why Ichigo kept losing fights he should have won after his fight with Byakuya; and it was amazing. As it turns out, Ichigo was improperly accessing his soul reaper/hollow powers because he was using what could be most logically described as a quincy technique to manifest them; not only that, his quincy side had held a majority of his powers back. He was unstable and nerfed the whole time, brilliant! And to top it all off, Yoruichi's male title-holding equivalent (god of flash, as opposed to goddess of flash) had said Ichigo had faster reaction times than even him. So, he should now wipe the floor with everyone, right? Ichigo comes down to soul society and gets into a 3v1 fight where he's going easy on his opponents and is doing well (they can't even see him move if he so chooses). But this is where "plot hole sucker-punch" number three lies. Ichigo has NO excuses to suddenly have his powers nerfed for the sake of plot... but it happens AGAIN! The dimensional hole Ichigo created was necessary for Juha to get to the Soul King's palace, but when Ichigo is about to prevent that (and at this point Ichigo would have won the fight since Juha wasn't the owner of the Soul King's powers yet) he gets stopped by the three quincy who COULDN'T EVEN SEE HIM MOVE one chapter before that.

But, that happens and the story continues; and so shall I. Juha Bach's special power was that he could give a piece of his soul to someone (to benefit them in some way) and collect with interest later: which is pretty cool for a power. But this also makes things strange since quincy powers don't originate from him (evidenced by Mayuri using a quincy technique), which means that the Sternritter are special quincy... at least that's all I can come up with. This is the explanation we are supposed to accept when Ichigo kills the Soul King... because Juha commanded the part of him that was inside of Ichigo. I mean, that wouldn't be too bad, but it was the WEAKER of Ichigo's powers. Literally, Ichigo was helpless to use his greater power to subdue his lesser power. So, that's "plot hole sucker-punch" number four.

Now, Ichigo get's back to the royal dimension (after being sent back to soul society for the second time) and meets his next would-be opponent... actually, it's Yoruichi's next opponent... no, wait, that was unnecessary fan-service (uncharacteristic of her previous appearances because she didn't move the plot forward in any way): It was Kisuke's next opponent! Why is this "plot hole sucker-punch" number five? Because the opponent ignores the "stronger spirit pressure blah blah blah, you get the idea" and subdues Ichigo with his own spiritual pressure by making it poisonous to him. That's like my blood becoming poison to me without having ever changed; there is absolutely no logic involved here. Ichigo literally had his powers changed by the less powerful underling of the boss... unless Ichigo was weaker: but if that was true, then there is no way for Seireitei to win, so that shouldn't be it.

So, more stuff happens and Ichigo finally gets to fight the main villain: that has to be cool right? Um, no. The villain uses a new power to select an alternate future where Ichigo doesn't have his powers and makes it a reality. That was "plot hole sucker-punch" number six because Yhwach should have ultimately destroyed everything and won the war. You can't beat that power. Then, Ichigo breaks character and gives up all hope (he's never done that to a completely external enemy before)... just so he doesn't get killed off. He really should have been killed here if he both lost his powers and stayed in character.

Then (ignoring the way Ichigo got his powers back) Aizen tricks Juha into not seeing Ichigo (and Juha's old second in command tricked him from seeing the true future) where he is done in by a sneak attack. The end, time skip 10 years, Ichigo is married to Orihime with a... no clue what age their son is, son. But, why did Ichigo act the same? Where was the love and intimacy he was supposed to have? Why did his character not change? Orihime's character went through several changes and lands in the most neutral "happy go lucky" I have seen and Ichigo doesn't change one bit. Where is the intimacy, (a snuggle or something, a bask in each other's glow?), where is the special attention Ichigo is supposed to give Orihime?

Orihime didn't need her personality to revert to pre-blood war status: her more earnest, serious, intentional, and forward personality was awesome! It was Ichigo that needed to change!

And for comparison:

The Bleach world (Comparison: Orihime) didn't need to suffer unnecessary changes that reverted the status quo for the story to move forward: It just needed Ichigo's powers to meaningfully change the story (Comparison: Ichigo).

You may see it as difficult to understand, since I simply do not have the words to fully flesh-out my meaning, but that's what the Ichigo x Orihime pairing represent to me. If the world had been more changed by Ichigo (like it was supposed to) then the plot holes needn't happen. If Ichigo's reaction to Orihime had changed (like it needed to for the pairing to make sense) then Orihime didn't need to change her personality away from what it had progressively become.

And don't get me started on how stupid Yhwach's plan was. Seriously, the quincy were a threat to the balance and the worlds were still on the tipping edge. He could have just started killing humans and tried to cause a collapse; take advantage of the weakened dimensional walls to scoop up the Soul King's powers; and let everything collapse into nothing before remaking it all. Then Ichigo could still be OP, but have to track down the quincy and stop them in guerrilla style search and destroy missions. The race against the clock would have been brilliant!

You don't have to agree, but that's how I see it.

So that's about it. Have a good "until we next meet" and may God bless you all,

SomethingAncient.


	5. Chapter 5: Confrontations I

Hey everyone... wow, this took me long enough. Anyway, I'm tired, but uploading this before I procrastinate any further. On with the story! My author's note is at the end of the chapter.

"Talking."

' _Thoughts.'_

 **Disclaimer:** I do not own Bleach or make money from this fan made fiction.

 **Out of the Bag chapter 5**

* * *

Tatsuki once again found herself at the Urahara shop. She would often come to train but this time she was waiting for Orihime, who was speaking privately with the shady shopkeeper. Thinking back, it had been months since Orihime had joined her, Mizuiro, or Keigo for training; even Chad had been more absent from the group's training sessions—though not as much so. This was a real irritation because she was often without a capable partner: Yoruichi wasn't around much; the training hollows had become too easy to defeat; and as much as training against Mizuiro and Keigo was a good idea, it wasn't viable anymore. Keigo feared her too much to consider it and Mizuiro wasn't enough of a challenge to make it worth pulling him away from training with Keigo (as they usually trained by duelling against each other). Or was that really the case?

It's true that she had become more than a match for both, but Mizuiro only really stopped dragging Keigo into it after Urahara brought him aside for an "important discussion" that one time. Furthermore, the shady shopkeeper had been medically testing her more and supporting her combat less; the man refused to increase the difficulty of the training dummies and gave the most vague answer as to why. She wasn't sure what to make of it.

She didn't trust the shopkeeper, and the fact that Orihime had been growing more and more concerned after each of her own visits was a good part of that—this was Orihime's fourth checkup for "nothing" and both parties refused to say a word about it. Tatsuki's thoughts were interrupted when Orihime finally came out with a grimaced look upon her face. "What's wrong Orihime?"

The auburn-haired young woman jumped a bit, surprised. "What? Oh, nothing, everything's fine."

Things sure didn't look fine. "Hime, tell me what's wrong."

"I'm fine... really."

Her face said otherwise. "Then why don't I believe you?" Tatsuki wasn't letting Orihime hide it any longer, having decided long ago she wasn't going to let Orihime go through anything bad alone; something really wasn't right this time.

Closing her eyes and faking a smile, Orihime replied. "It's nothing, really. I just won't be able to go to the Soul Society this time."

Tatsuki's eyes shot open. "What do you mean you won't be going? All you've done this last month is talk about Ichigo, why the heck wouldn't you go?" This was more than frustrating. _'_ _Two steps backward for every foot forward,'_ she thought, _'why can't she just end my misery and tell the idiot how she feels?'_ Tatsuki wasn't always this exasperated; sure, it bugged her for years, but at some point in the last month... something changed.

Orihime waved and said, "D-Don't worry about it, see you next week!" quickly turning as she ran back home.

Something was definitely up. _'Fine,'_ she thought, _'if she wants to be this way, I'll tell Ichigo how she feels and fix them up for good! Wait...'_ She had just recognized the latter half of her best friend's statement."Next week? Hime, what do you mean by-"

The sound of wooden clogs interrupted Tatsuki and she turned around to see the shady shopkeeper motion with his arms, directing her into the medical room. The place was futuristic with white plastic walls, clean lines and rounded corners. The equipment was all stainless steel with hookups for specialized gear, and monitor plugs for wires were built into the wall via consoles with many blinking lights of various colours. Tatsuki stepped into the room and glared at the shopkeeper, she wouldn't be reserved about how she felt.

"Alright, spill the beans. What's going on?!" she demanded, crossing her arms lest her fists dare an attempt at violent contact with the all-too-jovial man's face.

Kisuke looked at Tatsuki, ignoring the glare he was being given, a smile on his own face. "Hello Miss Arisawa, I'm glad you could make it. Don't worry about Miss Inoue, she'll be right as rain given time and discipline."

"Discipline? What the heck is going on?"

"She has just over-extended her spiritual reserves; like I said, there isn't anything to worry about. Besides, we're here to talk about you, Miss Arisawa."

From what she knew about exhausting one's powers, she was feeling better about Orihime's situation: the condition made you feel bad and went away with rest, so it wasn't too serious. However, looking at the man's now serious demeanour and the change of subject, Tatsuki's feelings shifted to surprise and aggression. "What about me?" her voice was rather hostile.

' _As I expected,'_ Kisuke thought;and now it was time to get things moving."Miss Arisawa, you've been growing in power at a phenomenal rate; truth be told, it's rising too quickly."

Tatsuki wasn't sure what that meant, but could suddenly see why subtle efforts had been made to slow her down. But the question had to be asked: "How does that work?"

"It's slightly different for everyone, but your human body is too stressed by your spiritual power right now. If you keep this up, you'll die physically." Shock became the dominant look upon the young woman's face. "However, I have a solution to assure your safety."

"You do?" she asked. Inwardly, she was relieved. _'_ _At least the mad hatter ha_ _s some_ _good news.'_

"Absolutely!" he exclaimed, waiving his fan in front of his face; he was genuinely excited. "Using data gathered from the previous tests I will make you new equipment. Though I am pretty busy, so it may take a month."

"A month? What am I supposed to do for a month? Besides, I'm speaking at a convention for hunters soon; the sponsor even wanted a demonstration."

The man's attitude suddenly mellowed out. "Relax, take a break, be creative... or are you that obsessed with fame? Judging from your response, I'd say you're head's gotten a little big~"

"Hardy-har-har! Do you have any idea how annoying those camera guys get? My parents have a running tally of how many camera's they've destroyed and they just keep bringing more. I think my parents have turned it into a flirting game: they're trying to one-up each other and end up making-out after bragging about it!" She really was exasperated from it all. "And to make matters worse, I even told one of those gossip reporters I was dating Ichigo just to put out rumours that were far worse!"

"Oh, you mean the one-"

"Don't you dare!" she cut in, "At least it got them off my back." She figured if they couldn't find the guy they would waste their time looking for someone who wasn't on this plane of existence; it had done the trick for now. "But then his dad comes over to congratulate 'us'; and now I think he's formed a coalition with my parents!" Kisuke then chuckled.

"What's so funny?" she growled.

"Oh, nothing, nothing~."

Tatsuki simply leered at the man. "Fine," she seethed, walking out of the room.

"Hold on Miss Arisawa, I need you to take something to Ichigo."

"You're sending me to Soul Society?" The idea wasn't inherently bad, it was quite good actually. _'_ _Nice, I can get this sorted out faster than I thought.'_

Orihime had gushed on and on about Ichigo when she had finally told Tatsuki the stories of the invasions of both Soul Society and Hueco Mundo. Orihime also wouldn't stop having surprisingly graphic daydreams about him afterwards—daydreams she responded to out-loud. And listening to everything had returned a "pull" pull that Tatsuki wasn't comfortable with, one in the depths of her heart. _'I hope nothing goes wrong... I have a_ _funny_ _feeling_ _about this_ _.'_

"Bingo! You'll be there for about a week." Without any further fanfare, Kisuke handed Tatsuki a wooden box, led her to the basement, and walked her into the portal while talking about her purpose; though she wasn't completely paying attention, she did get the gist.

* * *

Tatsuki was nervous. It wasn't that she lacked confidence, but that being led through unfamiliar territory by a couple of stone-faced soul reapers was awkward when there was no one to talk to; these two were as no-nonsense as members of the Prime Minister's security detail.

At the behest of the shady shopkeeper, she was delivering a small wooden box to Ichigo; apparently she would be there the whole week because of what was in the box. Though she didn't mind for a few reasons. Spending time with her childhood friend was more interesting than living a normal life for the next week, it also meant more money being deposited into her bank account, but most importantly, she had a scheme to implement.

Eventually the long walk ended and Tatsuki was passed on to another, friendlier escort at one of the smaller gates into Ichigo's division. _'Ichigo's division...'_ The idea came with a lot of implications and much to think about; thankfully her walk was finally over.

Ichigo's eyes widened when he noticed his visitor knock and enter his office. "Oh, hey Tatsuki, how's it going?" He got up from his desk to greet her, and stretch his legs while he was at it.

"Hey Ichigo," she replied with a small wave, "I'm alright, you?"

"The paperwork sucks, I'm glad you're here: I need a distraction." He pointed to the pile of paperwork at his desk.

Tatsuki chuckled when she saw the larger of the two piles. "I also come with a gift," she announced sarcastically, arms held out.

"Oh, so Hat 'n Clogs sent you to deliver the tests. Wasn't sure when I was getting those."

Once again she chuckled, apparently Ichigo wasn't a big fan of his either, and the nickname suited the shopkeeper. "Yeah. He also said I'd be needed as well, so I'll be here for the week."

Ichigo stared blankly at her for a second before smiling a bit. "Awesome, I miss having someone to hang out with. Everyone is really busy recently and it feels weird to be in charge: the only person who isn't afraid to casually talk to me seems to be Momo, and she's going to be extra busy with training. Is there anything you want to do?"

"Well, I was going to ask about Hohō, but I'm not allowed to train until I get my new gear."

"Not allowed to train? New gear? What happened?"

"Yeah," she huffed proudly, sticking out her chest and pointing toward herself with a thumb, her elbow out to the side. "my spiritual energy has been growing too fast, so the shady shopkeeper needs to make me better stuff; until then I'm just your average, 'mild-mannered' woman." Tatsuki slowed down toward the end of the sentence and sighed, the traces of her previous smile now vanishing.

"You seem disappointed." Ichigo grabbed some pillows and motioned for her to sit down.

Taking the offer, Tatsuki sat with her legs outstretched and her hands behind her for support; the box in her lap. "Not disappointed, more like bored."

Ichigo raised an eyebrow at the response. "Bored, you like fighting hollows?"

She had to think on the question for a moment. Did she actually enjoy it? "Maybe... I don't know. I mean, I love martial arts, and this is like... the ultimate way to apply what I've learned. You know what I mean? It's such a rush... well, until the paparazzi starts bugging you."

Ichigo smiled in understanding. "Fame sure makes things complicated. I've caught a few members of the Shinigami Women's Association trying to take my picture at... inappropriate times. Momo sometimes complains that she's being pressured by them to say stuff about me."

"I know, right?" she grinned, speaking with someone else who didn't care for the limelight was cathartic. "Oh, crap! Ichigo, I need to let you know!"

The urgency in Tatsuki's voice caused Ichigo to narrow his eyes and purse his lips. "Go on..."

"I told the press we're dating."

Despite sitting, Ichigo stumbled, raising his arms in front of him to head height with his palms open. "You what?!" It was a good thing there wasn't a table in front of him.

"Yeah, there were some bad rumours being spread by one of the gossip reporters I pissed off; it got so bad that people started throwing themselves at me. Even some girls! And I thought stopping Chizuru was bad enough."

"What kind of rumour could be that bad?"

"You don't want to know. Anyway, I found one of the other reporters and forced him to write some bogus article about us. They know enough about you to know you're real." Ichigo was sorting everything out in his mind—it was very obvious to her—when he suddenly chuckled, followed by a full blown laughing fit. Tatsuki wasn't impressed: Sure, the idea wasn't the brightest, but it worked... and it wasn't that stupid. Or was he laughing at the idea of dating her? That thought angered her. She wasn't the "girly-est" of people, but even she wanted to get married one day. And she was good enough for anyone, even him.

"You... haha, you, hahahaha... ahem, excuse me. Heh. You threatened a gossip reporter? That's definitely something you'd do." There was this big, goofy grin upon Ichigo's face—something Tatsuki hadn't seen in years—and it brought up the most nostalgic, heartwarming feeling she could remember experiencing. It moved her like a stolen moment, but this one was intended for her... or rather, because of her. It was a feeling she was wary of; yet she wanted to feel it again. If only she wasn't going to ruin his day. "Unfortunately your dad knows about it."

Ichigo instantly paled, mouth wide and fear very distinguishable in his eyes. "H-he didn't mention anything strange... did he?"

Tatsuki felt her face heat up and pulled at the collar of her shirt to air out her slightly-too-warm collar area as she remembered exactly what Ichigo's father demanded of her... well, both of them, really. It was graphic, it was embarrassing; and had all the tact of a drunk moose. It bordered on being a rant, and she quickly punched the man in the face; making a hasty retreat once she realized her parents—they had come out to see what the fuss was about—had joined this lunatic on the crazy train. She cleared her throat.

"Well, he... uh... yeah." The floor suddenly seemed far more interesting as she realized she was having the most roundabout conversation about sex with a childhood friend... with said childhood friend. At least it wasn't Ichigo's fault, she would have decked him otherwise.

Ichigo was, for lack of a better word, flustered. The conversation and its content was unprecedented to him, since he had never talked with a girl about sex before. And though the word "sex" had not been used, he knew his father well enough to know it was exactly where the current conversation was at. It figured his dad would be at fault; not to mention the fact he had not even thought about being in that kind of relationship with anyone, never mind his closest childhood friend.

They were both victims, he figured, and hoped things didn't become more awkward; he was worried she'd try to punch him. "Let's see what's in that box and get started with the tests Hat 'n Clogs wanted to run."

"Oh, right," Tatsuki replied, opening the box and reading the piece of paper that lay at the top. "It says you'll need to take off your shirts and let me place a bunch of these on you... wow, he even printed a you-shaped diagram for this..." she snickered a bit, "or maybe that's just your hair on a generic body shape."

Ichigo just placed his face in his hand. "You know what? I don't even want to see it."

Tatsuki giggled (in only a way Tatsuki would) and took out a package, opening it up and finding all of the patches she would use for one testing period; all of them felt a little different on touch. "Alright, get your kosode and shitagi off and I'll put these on." She did her best not to think of the previous conversation; she didn't want to make being friends with Ichigo awkward in the future.

She could see Ichigo also trying his best not to act bothered and watched as he pulled open his upper clothing and removed his arms from the sleeves, letting the garments hang down and revealing his upper body—which was nearly chiselled and without a scratch. Once again ignoring stray thoughts (while silently cursing the "Shady Shopkeeper"), Tatsuki came to a realization. "Orihime sure is a miracle worker."

"Hmm?" Ichigo wasn't quite connecting the dots and turned his head to glimpse Tatsuki—who had stood up and walked behind him—as she placed the first two patches on his lower back, on either side of the spine.

"You don't have a single scar, even after everything you've been through." she said, placing more patches on his lower, middle, and upper spine.

"Oh, yeah, Orihime really is amazing, isn't she?" He straightened his back and looked forward when Tatsuki pushed the shoulder that was bent in her direction, feeling the next patches placed almost under each arm where the shoulder blades stopped covering. "I've been through a lot and she's brought me back like nothing's happened."

Tatsuki frowned at this, remembering some of the fights she had personally witnessed: they were brutal. "Oh, speaking of her powers, she's used them too much." She placed the next two patches on either side of his neck, just behind the shoulder tendons.

"Is she alright?" Ichigo asked abruptly, his own experience with over extending his powers coming to mind—it was unpleasant on both accounts.

Tatsuki stepped in front of him in order to get the front patches applied, her own face a little heated. "Yeah, she's fine. Hat 'n Clogs was able to do something and she's recovering. I don't think she'll be able to visit you for a while... Stay still for these Ichigo, apparently the ones on the front are 'more volatile' according to the instructions"

Following the instructions, Ichigo felt the next patch go near his belt line in the centre. "Oh, that's good... guess that'll be one less visitor though."

The sigh of relief and those last few words let Tatsuki know how things were: Orihime still had a long way to go to catch the young man's attention; there wasn't even a hint of disappointment. She placed the next two patches simultaneously, slightly above and to either side of the first patch in the front.

But still, now was a good opportunity: Ichigo couldn't run away right now, and hopefully this would kick-start something for her best friend. She had been unusually fed up with Orihime's indecisiveness in the past month. "Ichigo, what do you think of Orihime?" she asked, placing three patches under his left pectoral in rapid succession.

"Well, she's a great healer. She's nice, too. And it goes without saying I trust her with my life." Ichigo felt one patch applied underneath his right pectoral and heard Tatsuki quietly count to five before placing the next two simultaneously.

"Is that all?" she asked, hands on her hips and a scowl on her face.

Ichigo narrowed his eyes, careful not to move too much, seeing as Tatsuki still had a couple of patches in her hand. "What do you mean, 'Is that all?'"

This time she slapped a patch onto Ichigo's right pectoral with force. "Ichigo, do I have to spell it out for you? She's in love with you!"

Ichigo failed to recognize the slap on account of the revelation that was just dropped on him. "She is?" his mouth was slightly open and his eyelids were wide apart.

"Yeah, she's had a crush on you forever, and after you rescued her she's been even more love-struck. Lately, she constantly brings you up; it's... difficult to hear all the time." She wasn't going to mention the daydreams however, she still had some dignity.

"Oh, I just thought she was really thankful to get out of Hueco Mundo. I mean, being a prisoner in that gloomy place had to suck, and she's normally very polite, so, you know..."

"Really? You did almost die to rescue her, why wouldn't any girl fall for that?"

"Because Rukia didn't? She's dating Renji right now, and I nearly died saving her. I'd do the same for anyone I care about—well, not that I try to get myself killed—I don't get how that instantly makes someone fall in love; even you put yourself in harm's way for Orihime."

Tatsuki let out a frustrated breath, palming her face. He really was this dense... or he really didn't care about Orihime in that way. "Then how do you feel about Orihime?" There had to be something she could use.

Resting his chin on his open palm, Ichigo thought hard about it. "Um... protective of her I guess, like Karin or Yuzu: I won't stand for someone taking advantage of her—she's too soft for that."

' _Dammit, why'd that have to_ _backfire?!_ _'_ Tatsuki had practically done the opposite of what she meant to do. And she really didn't want to let things go on like this: it had been years, and signs of progress on Orihime's part were non-existent. "Then when are you going to get a girlfriend? What is your type?"

"Why are you so-"

"Answer the damn question Ichigo!" Tatsuki wanted the truth, she wasn't going to let Ichigo think his way out of this one. _'_ _Maybe he's gay, then I wouldn't feel so bad telling Orihime. I mean, what straight man ignores boobs that massive?'_

"But I-"

"I said answer it!" she yelled, swinging the last patch around in the air. Ichigo wasn't getting out of this so easily.

Ichigo was frustrated, he couldn't think, and he certainly didn't want to screw up the test by moving when he shouldn't have—he really wanted to be home as soon as he could be—and he really didn't like being put on the spot like this. "I don't know!" he retorted, "Why don't you have a boyfriend yet?"

' _What the hell? What do I have to do with him dating?'_ she thought; balling her free hand into a fist, she brought it close to Ichigo's face. "What kind of 'answer' is that?"

His scowl was back in full force, intimidating as ever. "I've seen you go into danger to protect your friends—I've helped you out a few times, remember—and you just said you like the rush of fighting. Well, so do I. You know what? A while ago Yoruichi said you were a lot like me, and I think I know what she meant now. Chad may be my best friend, but I think you know how I feel better than anyone."

Taken aback, Tatsuki realized that, indeed, she shared several hobbies, as well as sense of justice, with Ichigo. There was a reason they stuck together for so long, and it wasn't just because they lived close together. But still, he wasn't completely right.

"That's bullshit and you know it!" she yelled, "Know how you feel? Really? How do I know how you feel?! You never let me in! I watched that fight with the blue haired guy who kicked your ass, how on earth do you willingly go through that? Why on earth didn't you tell me what was going on before that? Tell me, then I might know how you feel!"

Ichigo's eyes widened in surprise, still unable to move. "Wait, you were there? You watched my fight with Grimmjow?"

Tatsuki's voice lowered, and she let her arms fall to the side. "I don't know his name, but yeah. Half his face was hollow, right?"

"You could have been killed, why didn't you run?!" Ichigo yelled.

Still her voice remained soft. "And so could you, why didn't you run away?"

"Because I had to protect Rukia."

The answer was so straightforward it hurt. _'Of course he's like that, he's always been like that! Why can't you just be a selfish prick for once? Why are you so... so you?!'_

She was having trouble thinking now, her emotions had been put through the ringer for reasons she couldn't quite comprehend. "Well I didn't want you to die either! Besides, it's Rukia's fault you got into this mess. How is that fair? Orihime even got kidnapped because she went to visit Rukia."

"I was the one who attracted the hollow that attacked my family to begin with," Ichigo replied, "besides, Orihime was kidnapped for her powers, not because of Rukia."

"Well if Rukia had done her job better... I don't know, things would be normal?" she questioned, not really sure what to say. "We'd hang out at the arcade and do normal stuff like we always did, and maybe I'd finally get you and Orihime together so I wouldn't have to hear her talk about you so much. Do you have any idea how hard it is to help her out now?"

"Sorry Tatsuki, I didn't realize it was hard on you, I'll make it up to you somehow."

"You idiot! This isn't your fault, it's just that sometimes she gushes about you so much that I have trouble ignoring my own feelings!" She immediately closed her mouth, embarrassed at the Freudian slip.

Ichigo's jaw just dropped, unable to say anything as Tatsuki quickly applied the last patch over his heart and turned away, storming out of his office.

* * *

Dr. Benjamin Leary, now CEO of Soul Sand International, sat in his office talking to a cloaked representative of the very secretive group he was un-ironically, secretly partnered with.

"So, how are sales of the '50u1 Rifle'?" The cloaked man asked, his hands linked behind his back.

Dr. Leary simply kept a straight face as he responded. "They're doing alright, but everyone wants the spirit gear."

The man simply smiled in understanding. "Don't worry about it, it's in our best interest to see you do well, and that's what we have planned; the orders will pick up soon. Speaking of spirit gear, have any of your men been able to obtain it or break through the encryption on the website?" This had been a particularly challenging problem that people from both organizations had been working on in various capacities; not to mention the various contract work that had been given out.

"Unfortunately not: the quantum computer is working on it, but that will take another hundred years with the current technology. We're missing something, even with those organic-looking improvements you helped us with."

"I see," the cloaked man said, now crossing his arms in front of him, "that's what I was afraid of. I appreciate your efforts, we'll see if we can't create the missing tools you need for it. By the way, I hear you're getting married?" His tone was much lighter now.

"Yes," Dr. Leary smiled, "Jessica and I went on a date, that became two dates, and so on; now we're getting married."

"That's good to hear, we've had a few marriages within our organization and it's really brought the mood up. I wish you two the best."

"Thanks, give the happy couples on your end our best wishes as well." Dr. Leary replied.

"I'll do that; as always, it's been a pleasure." And with those words, the man was gone.

* * *

The world was steadily coming to terms with wholes, hollows, hell—many had speculated the creepy gates that pulled in some of the hollows was hell—reincarnation, and the afterlife; though not much was known of the latter. It had been a shock to everyone, but also a comfort—that no one was right about the great hereafter, and things were finally starting to settle down worldwide. Extreme violence went down worldwide upon the knowledge of hell's existence coming to light—many hardened criminals had turned their lives around out of fear—though things weren't much friendlier. People were actually more selfish despite the significant decline in severe crimes.

Oliver was lost in her thoughts. _'_ _If only we could do something about the suicide rate, that's gone way up.'_ She was on her way home from a school assembly mourning the loss of several students who had committed the unfortunate deed; it was the second such event in as many months. _'_ _I hate this, it's too depressing. Especially with all the hollows that have popped up because of it: I'm losing_ _all_ _my free time. Maybe I can stop by a_ _—_ _'_ Her thoughts were cut short as a young man in a military uniform as he walked her way, though her initial reaction puzzled her. _'_ _He'_ _s_ _looks good in that..._ _'_

The man was uncomfortable. Sure, getting this girl on his side was important, but the look she was giving him made him feel like prey being toyed with; she was a famous hunter. A quick clearing of his throat would hopefully hide his nervousness. "Miss Simons, I am Major Ross Keeley, with the Canadian Armed Forces, Supernatural Division; I wish to speak with you regarding an urgent matter."

' _T_ _his_ _is_ _strange,'_ she thought, not expecting someone from the military to show up looking for her; she could also feel spiritual pressure from him. "Are you rea~lly from the military?" she asked, her voice very droll. "You seem kind of young to hold the position of Major." Majors in her favourite military television show were all older, and it seemed pretty high up on the pecking order for someone who wasn't much older than her. She also wanted to see how far she could push him, test his personality. _'Let's see what he's made of.'_

' _What have I gotten myself into?'_ Ross girl's tone was dry, but her attitude certainly was not. "My age is of no concern, will you come or not?"

' _So Ross wants to be a prude, does he?'_ she coolly thought, certain this would go well: her mother often pressured men like this, and it was fun to see them squirm. "And if I say 'no?'" she asked with innocence.

Ross didn't like the sly smile on this girl's face, it made him less than sure of her intentions. Was she teasing him, or an actual danger? "Then I am authorized to detain you for questioning." He felt some assurance when her face soured.

"That's not fair... I haven't done anything wrong." she said, crossing her arms below her breasts.

Keeping as stoic as he could, Ross was determined to win the mind games this blonde teen was playing. "Multiple counts of trespassing, vandalism, and disturbing the peace."

Her eyes widened and her arms fell to the sides."What? When? You have no proof, I'm innocent! This is harassment!"

"More than hollows get hurt when you fight them, and you ignore private property in order to get to them."

"I... but..." She growled a bit, literally. "Fine, I'll go with you, but _you_ have to tell my mother." she pointed, making harsh contact with the man's chest in the process.

* * *

An hour later and Oliver was in a large brick warehouse. It was sectioned off into a garage, office, storage, and canteen area. Interestingly, the largest space was an open, nondescript floor space, though currently, she was inside an office, speaking with both Ross and his superior.

"So, the leader of some African country is killed by a hunter and now you want to force all hunters to register with the military?" She sat at a long canteen table across from Major Keeley and his superior General Altringham.

"Yes," Ross replied, "though you aren't being forced to join the military. We just want to do a psychological evaluation every year of all hunters in the country. You are a living weapon, by technical definition. And since this is your first time with us, we also need to go over laws that you must obey—since any show of aggression or act of violence would be considered threatening with a deadly weapon or assault with a deadly weapon: respectively."

"This... this is absurd." her mouth hung slightly open and she glared at the two men.

The general—who had short, white hair—spoke up. "It's this or become locked away in the most glorified of weapons lockers." He also had a pretty cliche, gruff voice. "You also have nothing to worry about if you continue to conduct yourself as admirably as you have already done so far."

Another hour was spent on just the things she wasn't allowed to do. Oliver was feeling alarmingly restricted now. "Is there anything else I can't do?" she sarcastically quipped.

"Yes," the old general shot back, "you're too young to hold a concealed weapons permit, so you need to wear one of these." The man pulled a bright orange armband with the letters "L.W." on it.

"You have got to be kidding me..." Oliver was not happy.

"We aren't," Ross said, "it's the new policy."

"But... it'll clash with _everything_ I own. What does 'L.W' even stand for?"

"Living weapon."

"But—" she was cut off.

"That's the point, it needs to be noticeable and indicative of what the general danger could be." The general stated.

"You... you're..." she pointed in frustration. "I blame you," she said, pointing and glaring at Ross. The man was attractive, but his no-nonsense attitude seemed to frustrate the teen. _'I will have my revenge,'_ she thought.

"Well," started the general, "now that that's out of the way, we'd like to offer you a job."

"A job?"

"Yeah, training the hunters that decide to sign up for the military. We want the best of the best, and you're it in this country—well, according to the Humble Shop website. Once a week, you come here and hold a 5 hour training session, helping out the other hunters get better at not dying. We'll pay you one thousand dollars per session."

Her eyes glossed over a bit, but she shook her head. "I can't, and you won't get any hunters, either."

"So it's true?" Ross asked, concern in his voice.

"Yeah, hunters aren't allowed to join any military. You've heard what they do anyone who joins and tries to keep their gear; those stories are real."

Another two hours, this time being told what she was allowed to do, and she was on her way back home, being driven by Major Ross.

"Do I have stay with you? I mean, I can get home myself." She crossed her arms to physically state her dissatisfaction.

Ross, however, had both hands on the wheel and remained as indifferent as he could. "Yes, it would break military protocol to leave a teenager to her own devices after we picked her up."

"Can you take me out at least?" she asked suggestively, shrugging her shoulders to emphasize her breasts.

"Miss Simons," he said, still looking at the road, "are you flirting with me?"

She raised an eyebrow. "What if I am?"

"Why?" Ross knew exactly how to handle her mind games—once he knew she was playing said mind games.

"Because I can, this is payback." Ross obviously was not looking at her, so she relaxed her shoulders, glaring at him a bit.

"You're a fairly vindictive type, aren't you? Low key, too. It's no wonder you don't have a boyfriend."

"Wha—how would you know?"

"Then you're a cheater?"

"No!" she shouted indignantly, "Just take me back!" Oliver simply seethed for the rest of the ride.

* * *

Later that night, with several friends and a grudge, Oliver found herself walking down the street past a bar; though they stopped to see a man being ejected from the establishment by another man: a man Oliver recognized.

' _Ross!'_ she thought in frustration. Only to come up with a clever idea as Ross made his way back into the bar. Speaking to her friends, she was emboldened by said idea. "Hold on guys, I have a score to settle. I'll be right back." Her friends simply watched her enter the bar and leave a minute later holding a full glass of beer.

Quickly, Oliver turned around, waiting; barely 5 seconds later a man came out, clearly unhappy with Oliver.

"Miss Simons, I don't know what your problem with me is, but this is immature—hey!"

Slowly and deliberately, she began pouring the beer on the ground, a wry smile upon her face. "Then why don't you arrest me?"

"You can't be serious—Of all the times to ruin your reputation..." he spoke, coming to what he thought was a realization. _'She really wants me to arrest her, unbelievable!'_ he thought, watching her drop the glass onto pavement, causing it to shatter across the ground. Quickly, he walked up to her, prepared to arrest her, when her arms flew around his neck.

' _That's right,'_ she thought as she kissed him, _'now you just broke the law.'_ But she quickly panicked as she was drawn into the kiss further than she had planned; it felt good, if unfamiliar. Panting, she glared at Ross, arms still around his neck, unsure what had just happened.

He moved his arms off his shoulders, patted her on the head patronizingly, and began to walk away with a final, parting shot. "Not bad, kid, but wait a few years, eh?"

' _That son of a bitch!'_ she thought, too stunned to move or notice how her friends were all cat calling and laughing. _'He won?! How?! When?! Why?! I don't get it!'_ Oliver didn't even pay heed to her classmates pushing her along as they teased her on the way back—too numb to even register that she was now laying in her bed; and barely able to register her mother's voice.

"Oliver, sweetie, what's wrong?" her mother asked, walking into the doorway and leaning on the frame.

"He beat me..." she trailed off, a bit sprawled on the bed.

Her mother's eyes shot wide and she quickly approached Oliver, checking her skin for bruising. "Who beat you? Are you hurt?"

"Not hurt..."

Her mother stopped abruptly, slowly turning her head toward Oliver. "Then what happened?"

"I don't get it..."

Lightly slapping Oliver's arm, her mother tried to get her out of it. "Honey, you're in a daze. Are you alright."

"What's 'alright...?'"

A minute later, she was taken from her daze by a cold, wet feeling. "Gah, mother! What was that for?" she turned and asked, seeing the empty glass in her mother's hand.

"Finally you make some sense. What happened?"

"It's... nothing." she said, turning away.

"It's obviously not 'nothing'. Tell me, what happened?"

Slowly, and with careful thought, she pieced together a "safe" version of her night. "There was a game, and I set a trap in it, and this guy, he fell right into it—hook, line, and sinker—but somehow I lost! I don't understand it, how did I fail?"

"What's his name?"

"Ross." Almost immediately Oliver felt a hard glare from her mother.

"You were playing mind games with that man from the military?" Her voice made it more than clear how unhappy she was.

"What of it? I knew what I was doing."

Giving her daughter a look of disbelief, she spoke up. "Where did you learn to play mind games like that?"

"I watched you do it, with those clients who come here sometimes."

Things were clear, in that painfully obvious kind of way. "Honey, I play those mind games to get them away from me if they try to get personal... I'm not looking to move on just yet." Looking at Oliver, she came to a funny realization. "Come to think if it, your father was the only one who ever saw through it," she smiled. "And he was good at it, too. I couldn't lead him on... I think that's why I bothered to get to know him." Quickly realizing the implication of those words, she pointed at Oliver threateningly. "Oh! But you're too young to date Ross, so don't even think of it!"

"Why on earth would I want to date him?"

Her mother merely gave a wry smile. "Oh, I'm sure you'll figure it out eventually. But! No more going after him!"

"Mother!"

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

So... I'm late; I apologize. It's been over a year, so I'm more than worried this chapter is out of form compared to the others. Please let me know how I did or if something seems off.

I also hope everything was clear enough. And if the story seems oddly paced, well, that's because it is. Imagine a history timeline where different events are seen through the eyes of a character in that event: that's the concept. Each scene acts like a normal novel, but scenes will skip ahead or slow down based on what I see as important elements in the overall history, or (alternatively) if I find an interesting way to explain how things work. For example:

Oliver's first appearance was an important part of the recruitment process. I needed an example with one of the Hunters-to-be, since things do happen around them later on.

Every scene is designed to answer one or more questions that are needed for the progress of the world to make sense, or explain why things move in a certain direction. I'm trying to have the overall story show and not tell (if that makes any sense, the concept is a bit abstract).

Anyway, just in case anyone is curious about the hiatus: I started having some issues with a lot of chest pain and stopped writing during that time. It took 6 months, but I was eventually cleared with a clean bill of health; I'm still dizzy, though.

Anyway, it's just been hard to get back into it. So, from here starts my next self-made deadline of 4 months. As always, I plan to get the next chapter out sooner (much sooner), but things happen.

Anyways, have a good "until next time" and God bless,

SomethingAncient


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